


Between Takes

by bansheee



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Celebrity, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Muggle, Blow Jobs, Community: HPFT, Dog!Padfoot, F/F, First Love, M/M, Scorbus, Snapchat, Summer Romance, Texting, Twitter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-05
Updated: 2017-01-09
Packaged: 2018-05-31 11:29:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 35,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6468526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bansheee/pseuds/bansheee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>Nothing exciting ever happens in Uppingham.</em>
</p><p>At least, that’s how Albus has felt his whole life, until he goes to work one day to see a film crew set up on Diagon Alley. </p><p>
  <em>This summer is going to be terrible.</em>
</p><p>Scorpius doesn’t want to spend his entire summer filming Hogwarts in a nowhere town, surrounded by people who want him to be something he’s not.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Episode 1: Location, Location

“Diagon Alley? Like… Diagonally?”  
  
Scorpius Malfoy bit his lip. The plan he made to keep his mouth shut during the director’s meeting failed when he heard the ridiculous street name. There was no going back now. Scorpius looked to the man – their new Location Scout – sitting next to the director. He gave them an amused smile, and looked at his co-star, Susie Nott, in disbelief. “Did the town do that on purpose? Why aren’t we just staying at Pinewood Studios?”  
  
The Location Scout ignored him, turning instead to JC, the show’s Executive Producer. “It’s got the cobblestone that we’re looking for, it’s old enough that it’ll fit into the _Hogwarts_ universe, and the town of Uppingham has already agreed that we won’t have to pay any compensation fees for closing down the street,” the man said. “They think the recognition from the series will be enough to boost traffic.”  
  
Scorpius heard Susie scoff from next to him. “That’s horrible.”  
  
“That’s show business, sweetheart,” JC said.  
  
The Location Scout sneered at Susie. “If you don’t like it, we’ll find another pretty black girl who will.” He turned back to JC.  
  
Susie sank back into her seat, clearly embarrassed at being treated like a child. The conversation went on between the Location Scout and JC, and Scorpius did his best to follow.  
  
That comment was exactly why Scorpius planned on keeping his mouth shut (except to ask about the ridiculous street name) – It was an honor that they were even invited to the discussion regarding where they’d be filming season three of _Hogwarts_ , and Scorpius didn’t want to mess it up if he had any hopes of learning how to direct this season.  
  
Once the conversation about the location was set and decided, the men turned back to Scorpius and Susie.  
  
“We’re taking the early train on Monday, and filming starts that afternoon. Angie went early; she’s already there coordinating the setup.” JC told them.  
  
Scorpius nodded, trying to keep his face neutral, and not express the disappointment he was feeling about losing his entire summer in London to some nowhere town stuck in a cramped, sweaty trailer. He was used to it anyway.  
  
JC continued. “In order to get the crowd excited for Bixie, we need you two to be seen together as much as possible while we stay on location in Uppingham.”  
  
Scorpius was too busy grimacing at the word Bixie – the name fans had created to pair off his character Basil with Susie’s character Nixie – to answer, so Susie replied to the director. There was a hint of amusement in her voice when she said, “Well, we’re best friends, I’m sure that won’t be a problem.”  
  
The director sighed, but their marketing manager sat forward. “The fans want more. We need you two holding hands in public, heart eyes, and everything in between. After we moved Alfie to America at the end of last season, _#balfieforever_ trended for two days. We need to get fans as just as excited for the two of you.”  
  
Out of the corner of his eye, Scorpius could see Susie smirking, as she did whenever the pairing of Basil and Alfie was mentioned. Scorpius, however, wasn’t going to be distracted by the internet sensation of hashtag balfie.  
  
“So, you want us to pretend we’re together. Dating.”  
  
JC opened his mouth to explain, but their marketing manager talked over him. “Under your contracts, we technically can’t ask you to pretend you’re dating, but we just ask that you continue to be the very best of friends, close together and in the public eye.” The man turned to Scorpius. “Not sitting in your trailer with Louie making PR nightmares.”  
  
"Just be yourselves, but make sure it’s on Instagram too,” JC added hastily.  
  
“And if anyone asks about our relationship status, we’re just supposed to give them a very vague ‘no comment’, right?” Scorpius asked, ignoring the jab about Louie. He knew he was blushing. It was clear now why they’d been invited to the location meeting, and it wasn’t for Scorpius to get a foot in the directing door.  
  
The director grinned. “Now you’ve got it.”  
  
To keep an aura of general politeness, Scorpius and Susie had to stay and chat with the crew for a while. They listened to JC go on about his plans for season three and beyond, until they were unceremoniously ‘dismissed’ for the writing team to go over later episodes that Scorpius and Susie weren’t allowed to learn about.  
  
As soon as the door shut behind them, Susie instantly started to complain. “They can’t do this! They can’t just… I don’t know, use our friendship to advertise a relationship no one wants! They aren’t even thinking about the fans.”  
  
Scorpius made a noise of agreement as he tugged his phone out of his pocket. He bit off a smile when his screen read _Louie (2)_ under the new text messages.  
  
While Susie rambled, Scorpius read:  
  
 _How’d the meeting go? Any directing news?_  
  
 _What, big director man now can’t even text me back? JK :-P_  
  
In spite of the meeting not going the way Scorpius wanted it to, he still smiled as he read the texts. In reply, he sent:  
  
 _Big old movie star, I’m surprised you even found the time to think of me._  
  
He knew the message sounded bitter, but he doubted Louie would even notice. “We can’t do anything about it, Susie,” Scorpius told her, shoving his phone back into his pocket. “Until you become a writer and I become a director, we’re just marketing pawns to these people.”  
  
Susie was quiet for a few moments while they walked towards the parking lot. Scorpius tugged his sunglasses down from his hair as they stepped outside into the clear summer day. It was perfect weather, and he’d be wasting it in his loft packing a carry-on. He had forty-eight hours until he’d be on the train to Uppingham, where he’d waste his entire summer away from London and away from Louie.  
  
Not that Louie would even notice.  
  
“Yes we can,” Susie suddenly said.  
  
Scorpius looked to her. “Can what?”  
  
“Do something about it,” Susie said. There was a glint of mischief in her eye that Scorpius instantly disliked.  
  
He wouldn’t ask. That would solve it, and Susie would just forget whatever crazy stunt she was about to drag him into.  
  
Susie’s grin was disturbing. “I hope you’re ready to forget about that twat Louie, because we’re going to score some dates this summer.”  
  
Scorpius groaned. “I don’t want to.”  
  
“Come on,” Susie said. “It’s not like I’m asking you to fall in love. Just find some cute fan and get caught snuggling on the beach with him.”  
  
“What if the town doesn’t have a beach? Isn’t Rutland landlocked?” Scorpius asked.  
  
“They do. The script for episode three has us skipping class together on the day before the full moon looking along the shore for clues,” Susie told him. “As if Nixie would _ever_.” Susie shook her head. “But that’s so not the point and you know it.”  
  
Scorpius frowned at her. “What are you going to do? Just lead some poor girl or boy on for two months, and then never see them again? I’m not… I can’t do that to someone.”  
  
 _I’m not over Louie_ , he thought to himself.  
  
“It’s not leading them on, they’re going to know we’re only there for the summer,” Susie told him.  
  
He felt his phone buzz in his pocket, interrupting his train of thought. His shoulders slumped when he saw the text wasn’t from Louie, but from his mother.  
  
 _Heard you’re shipping out next week. Your father and I wish we could be there. We’ll try to fly in after your father wraps in Germany. Love you._  
  
Scorpius rolled his eyes and tossed his phone into his car.  
  
“Louie?” Susie asked.  
  
“Mum and dad,” Scorpius said. “They’re ‘so sorry’ they’re stuck in Germany filming for the summer. They’re going to ‘try’ to fly in and visit.”  
  
Susie shook her head. “So you’ll see them next year?”  
  
Scorpius chuckled. “Pretty much.”  
  
“Want to come over for dinner? I’m sure my dads will make something big when I tell them,” Susie said.  
  
As tempting as a home cooked meal sounded, Scorpius shook his head. “Thanks, but I have to go home and pack, and—”  
  
“Try to get ahold of Louie?” Susie asked. Scorpius knew she didn’t mean to be condescending, but he still frowned. “This is exactly why you need to meet someone else this summer. Louie left, Scorpius. He left the show, and he left you.”  
  
“This feels like character bleed, this sudden dump of patronizing honesty,” Scorpius said, refusing to make eye contact. He stared at the ground, willing himself not to tear up.  
  
“I want to make the best of this shitty situation,” Susie said. “We’re going to be stuck in this nowhere town all summer; would you rather sit in your trailer for the next three months and wait for a text from a boy who doesn’t love you, or make some memories with someone else?”  
  
Scorpius turned to his car and looked at his phone on the passenger seat. Specifically, at the little corner of the device that would light up when he had a waiting text message.  
  
He knew Susie was right. He knew if he checked the read receipts on his conversation with Louie, it would prove that Louie was ignoring him.  
  
“I’m not good at talking to boys,” Scorpius mumbled. When he looked up to Susie she was grinning. He’d just as well admitted she was right. He fought the urge to smile back at her, breaking after a moment and laughing himself. “You’re a terrible influence.”  
  
Susie was still smiling. “This summer is going to be amazing.”


	2. Episode 2: Mint Chocolate Chip

“Albus Severus Potter, if you’re not downstairs in two minutes I’m not giving you a ride to work!” Albus’ mother shouted from the bottom of the staircase.  
  
“I’ll just stay home!” he called back from under his duvet. The Potters got back late from the Weasley Family Reunion the night before, and Albus still needed more time sleeping in his own bed instead of a dinky tent on his grandparents’ land.  
  
Footsteps thundering on the stairs had him throwing the duvet off and flying towards his dresser. Hastily, he tugged out of his pajamas and pulled on a pair of boxers before his mother threw the door open.  
  
“Mum!” Albus shouted, trying to cover himself. “I’m going!”  
  
“That’s what I thought,” his mother said, shutting his bedroom door. “Your work shirt is still on your bathroom floor where you left it a week ago, unless Padfoot has eaten it.”  
  
Albus didn’t answer her, grateful the door was shut so he could make a face without getting yelled at. The internet free week at his grandparents’ house was more than enough family time than Albus needed. He pulled on a pair of jeans and crossed his room to the bathroom he shared with his brother James.  
  
Sure enough, his work t-shirt emblazoned with _Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour_ in large bright letters was lying in a heap of dog slobber and old ice cream on the floor next to James’ football cleats.  
  
Grimacing, Albus picked up the shirt and smelled it. Holding back retching noises, he reached for the washcloth next to the sink and got it damp. After scrubbing away the drool, the larger spots of melted dessert, and spraying it with James’ Lynx body spray, he tugged the damp fabric over his head and deemed himself ready.  
  
Albus’ mother was glaring at him when he stepped into the kitchen. Avoiding her gaze, he walked over to the pantry to grab a loaf of bread. However, when he reached for the cord to plug in the toaster, his mother tutted at him.  
  
“I am not going to sit in traffic because you refused to get out of bed this morning. You’re eating bread in the car instead of toast, Albus,” his mother said, grabbing her keys from the counter. Albus followed his mother out to the garage, sticking his tongue out at his sister as they left. He thought about rehashing the argument about why Lily didn’t have to get a job, but his mother was already crabby and he didn’t want to deal with her yelling at him any more than necessary.  
  
As his mother unlocked their car, she said, “Hermione’s just texted and said streets are blocked off all through town. They aren’t even letting traffic through on Diagon Alley.”  
  
Albus made an affronted noise as he climbed into the passenger’s seat. “What? Am I to walk from Knockturn? I’ll be mugged.”  
  
His mother rolled her eyes. “What are they going to steal, breadcrumbs?”  
  
Albus played around on his phone while his mother drove towards his work. He felt like he had a million unseen Snapchats and Tweets to reply to, but he didn’t want to open any of them with his mother in the seat next to him. He was taking Rose’s advice with his crush, to play it vague over the summer, and start year eleven with an _aura of mystery_ (her words). He had two unopened Snapchats that he was absolutely dying to look at once he was away from his mother’s nosy eye.  
  
It wasn’t until someone’s car horn blared ahead of them that Albus looked up from his phone.  
  
“What the hell?” Albus asked, shutting his screen off and shoving his phone into his pocket. He stared at the sea of brake lights ahead of them. If he squinted he could make out the sign that read _Historic Diagon Alley_ ahead of them.  
  
His mother’s eyebrows were furrowed as she waited in the unmoving traffic. “Is there some kind of accident?” Albus asked.  
  
“Hermione hasn’t responded,” his mother said, checking her phone. “I’m going to turn down Fifth to get to work. She threw on her signal light. “At this rate it’ll be quicker for you to get out and walk anyway. Your father’s on the early shift, so he’ll pick you up this afternoon.”  
  
Albus nodded, and after saying goodbye, he hopped out of his mother’s van and jogged between cars to the sidewalk. With one final wave, his mother merged into the faster moving lane and disappeared into traffic.  
  
As he walked towards the cobblestone street, Albus tried to look for any sign of a car crash or other disaster.  
  
It wasn’t until he reached Diagon Alley that he realized what was causing the commotion. The entire alley was blocked off by production trucks, trailers, and a small crowd of screaming people. Albus scanned the street, looking for anyone who could help him get to Fortescue's.  
  
He looked up when the crowd screamed again. There were a few people dressed in floor length black robes walking out to the mass of people. The crowd flocked over towards them. Albus looked past the screaming to see a man with a ‘SECURITY’ shirt on. He ignored the chanting the crowd had started and walked over to the man.  
  
“I need to get to work,” Albus told the man in lieu of a greeting. He pointed towards the ice cream shop.  
  
“Road’s blocked off except for workers and essential personnel,” the man grunted.  
  
“I’m a worker! I work at the ice cream parlour!” Albus argued, feeling more confused by the second. It looked like there was a movie being filmed. Albus almost laughed at the thought – no one would want to see a movie about their dinky town.  
  
The man looked unconvinced, but after patting him down, let Albus through with a warning against sneaking into trailers and filming the crew. Whatever that meant.  
  
Albus headed straight for the ice cream parlour when he got through the freaking security checkpoint.  
  
“What. The hell. Is going on!?” Albus asked the empty parlour when he got inside. He walked straight for the back of the shop where he found his cousin Rose, and the owner Beverly – Bev – sitting atop the prep table with containers and spoons.  
  
“I knew it couldn’t be a customer,” Bev said, grabbing for another container and hopping off the table towards her office.  
  
“Hey, Albus, it’s been too long,” Rose said, chuckling over a spoonful. “What has it been, ten hours now?”  
  
“Is anyone going to answer me?” Albus asked.  
  
Rose looked up, the content smile dropping from her face. “Have you not been on Twitter?”  
  
“We’ve been banished from technology for a week, Rose!” Albus cried.  
  
“You didn’t check when you got home last night?” she asked.  
  
“I was too tired,” Albus muttered. He still had Snapchats that he had to sneak away and check.  
  
Rose hopped off the table and walked over to him. He felt his heartbeat race, as if she was about to tell him someone got shot on the street and everything out there was police investigation. She put a hand on each of his shoulders and shook him, before saying, “ _Hogwarts_ is filming here for the summer!”  
  
Albus scrunched up his nose. “What’s _Hogwarts_ about again?”  
  
Rose’s face dropped, followed by her arms. “It’s only the most amazing TV show to ever exist!” Rose said. “I can’t believe you have a Tumblr and haven’t watched Hogwarts.”  
  
“Are you going to tell me what it’s about or are you going to just keep talking really loud?” Albus asked.  
  
“ _Hogwarts_ is a TV show about a boarding school where kids go to learn magic!”  
  
Albus raised an eyebrow at her. “That sounds—”  
  
“Amazing, I know,” Rose said. “It’s not even the show though, it’s the cast. Susie Nott was my swan song of being straight.”  
  
“I don’t think you’re using that phrase right,” Albus said.  
  
“Whatever,” Rose said. “The entire cast is staying in Uppingham for the summer to film. This is the closest to something interesting happening here since Fortescue died.”  
  
Bev peeked around the corner. “Out front, guys; someone on a megaphone just called for lunch. The crew is the only business we’re going to get for the next three months, so be nice.”  
  
Albus knew Bev wasn’t talking to Rose.  
  
After tying on an apron and sliding his phone in the pocket, Albus followed Rose to the front of the shop. He expected to be quickly mobbed with people coming into the shop, so he got ready at the register while Rose made sure all of their candies were stocked.  
  
Out the window, Albus saw more teenagers dressed in the dark floor-length robes, like the people the mob went after earlier.  
  
“Why are they wearing full length black robes in the middle of summer?” Albus asked Rose.  
  
“It’s the school’s uniform,” Rose answered. He watched as she filled a container of Oreo pieces. “All of the students have to wear them.”  
  
“Remind me to thank my mum for sending me to sixth form,” Albus chuckled.  
  
“I would give anything to go to Hogwarts,” Rose said dreamily, looking towards the ceiling. In her distraction, she overfilled the container and spilled Oreo crumbs all over the counter.  
  
Albus laughed. “Too bad you don’t have magic to clean that up.”  
  
Rose made a face at him, and just as she went for a towel, the bell to the shop rang and the front door opened.  
  
Albus heard Rose gasp, and before he realized what was going on, Rose was pushing him away from the cash register and towards the ice cream cases. Albus made an affronted noise at her, but she was too busy grinning like a loon at the two people that had just walked in.  
  
He immediately recognized the dark-skinned girl from a poster on Rose’s bedroom wall. Her perfectly formed curls were a dead giveaway. It was Rose’s swan song.  
  
The boy wasn’t immediately recognizable as he walked closely next to the girl, seeming to let her lead the way as he stared at his phone.  
  
“Oh my god,” Rose squealed. Albus thought she was going to start jumping up and down at the register. “Susie Nott and Scorpius Malfoy, in Uppingham.” The boy, Scorpius, didn’t look up from his phone – or even remove his sunglasses – but the girl smiled at Rose. “Oh my god, what a loser, Rose,” Rose muttered to herself. She looked up to Susie. “I’m sorry, I just really love _Hogwarts_.”  
  
Susie smiled to her. “Thanks! It’s always great to meet fans. I’m surprised you didn’t sign up to be an extra.”  
  
“We were out of town when the news came out,” Rose told her. “I would have loved to.”  
  
The dark-haired girl nodded. She looked over Scorpius, and then the ice cream case. “What’s good? He’ll have mint chocolate chip,” she added, gesturing towards Scorpius, “Because he’s the most boring person on earth.”  
  
Rose giggled, making Susie smile. “My favorite is the red velvet, but you can try any of them. I’ve been trying to get the owner to put froyo on the menu, but she refuses.”  
  
From the back, Albus heard Bev shout, “Froyo isn’t ice cream!” and slam her office door. When he looked back to Rose, she and Susie were both smiling to each other. Albus rolled his eyes; he could recognize Rose’s flirting smile from anywhere.  
  
Deciding it was a lost cause to try to talk to Rose, Albus turned to the blond boy. “Mint chocolate chip, right?”  
  
For the first time since the pair walked into the shop, Scorpius looked up from his phone. He seemed confused how he had gotten inside the ice cream shop, but after a moments pause, he nodded and said, “Uh, yeah, thanks mate.” He looked right back down to his phone, and Albus rolled his eyes. Celebrities.  
  
“Coming right up,” Albus said in his fake-enthusiastic voice. He turned around and grabbed an empty cone and started to fill it with the light green ice cream.  
  
As he scooped he heard the bells on the door ring again, and a few more people in black robes came into the shop. Rose didn’t make any noises, so Albus figured those people must not be as important. Or maybe she was just too wrapped up in giving Susie Nott a sample of every single one of the shops flavors.  
  
Once he finished Scorpius’ cone, Albus cleared his throat until the boy looked up. “Oh, thanks,” Scorpius said, putting his phone away and using both hands to take the cone from Albus. His fingertips were warm as they brushed against Albus’ cold ones. Albus looked away from him.  
  
“I invented this one,” Rose said as she handed over a spoon of the brand new pink lemonade flavor they just released.  
  
Susie, who had six used spoons in her hand, took it from Rose with a smile. Albus felt awkward as he watched Susie keep eye contact with Rose as she tried the dessert. He found himself wishing he could think of something cool or interesting to say to Scorpius.  
  
“Oh my god, that one’s the best, I’ll take it,” Susie said. Albus shook his head in amusement and began to scoop out Susie’s cone.  
  
Albus moved on to the next group of customers while Rose rang up the two stars. He felt like his fingers were going to fall off from freezer burn by the time he finished the line of cast and crew members.  
  
Once everything was cleared and the shop was empty again, Albus grabbed a rag and headed out to clean off the tables.  
  
“You weren’t even a little subtle to that Susie girl,” Albus called to Rose, who was wiping fingerprints from the glass cases.  
  
“Doesn’t matter,” Rose said with a grin. “It worked.”  
  
Albus stopped scrubbing at a blob of marshmallow and looked to her. “What ‘worked’?”  
  
“When I was ringing the pair up, I mentioned how they absolutely had to walk out to the lighthouse while they were here, and she said her and Scorpius would love to be shown around by locals.”  
  
Albus immediately shook his head. “That guy—”  
  
“Scorpius freaking Malfoy,” Rose said.  
  
“Yeah, whatever. He barely even looked at me. I’m not going to stroke some straight famous person’s gigantic ego while you get to be all romantic at the lighthouse,” Albus grumbled.  
  
Rose let out a sharp laugh. “Scorpius Malfoy definitely isn’t straight. Didn’t you read any articles why Louie Lestrange left the show?”  
  
“I don’t even watch the show, why would I read articles about the cast?” Albus asked her.  
  
“This is just speculation, of course, but Louie and Scorpius apparently were like, really close on set. And you know, character bleed and fans talk and whatever, people started pairing off Basil and Alfie – their characters – because of that. And then out of nowhere, Louie got offered this big movie role, so he quit the show.”  
  
Albus frowned. “That doesn’t mean Scorpius is gay.”  
  
“Doesn’t mean he’s straight,” Rose replied, tapping the side of her nose.  
  
“It doesn’t matter. My dad would never let me go hang out at the beach after dark, even if it is summertime. Your mum wouldn’t either.”  
  
Rose rolled her eyes. “Your dad totally would if you told him you were going to meet a boy. You know he and your mum are trying to be super supportive after you told them on the camping trip.”  
  
Albus paused for a minute. What was the worst that could happen, after all? He’d get to the beach and Scorpius would ignore him the entire time? Whatever, he’d have his phone, and if Scorpius was just going to sit on his, then he could too.  
  
“Whatever,” Albus said, shaking his head at Rose. “I’ll go.” 


	3. Episode 3: Basil Smile

“You were such a douche in there,” Susie said to Scorpius as they exited the shop. “So much for not living in your father’s shadow.”  
  
Scorpius made a face at her from behind his massive ice cream cone. He wasn’t exactly short on money, but something that size would have costed five pounds in London, and this was one. And it was given to him by a cute boy with green eyes and cold hands, so that was an even better bonus. He’d be doing extra sit-ups tomorrow, but right now the sugary treat was worth it.  
  
“Louie was texting,” Scorpius explained. “I haven’t heard from him since we got here.”  
  
“Yeah, he’s probably too busy shagging some crew boy he doesn’t even know the name of,” Susie quipped.  
  
Scorpius narrowed his eyes at her, trying to pretend what she said didn’t sting. “At least I’m not hitting on the first passably cute local I see in this town. How do you know she isn’t just a really crazy, really straight fan?”  
  
“She was way more than passably cute,” Susie said, grinning. “And she obviously wasn’t straight, seeing as she didn’t give a shit that you were there.”  
  
“So every one of your fans just likes you for your looks. Got it.”  
  
Susie scoffed at him. “You should be thanking me. I know you thought the black haired boy was adorable, and thanks to me you’ll have a chance to not be a douche later tonight when we meet up with them.”  
  
Scorpius would never admit it to Susie, but he was grateful he left his sunglasses on when they went into the tiny ice cream shop. He was so preoccupied by the fact that Louie finally replied to his texts, that he didn’t even realize how adorable the boy behind the counter was until he’d already acted like a standoffish prick.  
  
“Are they even going to let us off the set by dark?” Scorpius asked.  
  
“We’re not filming night scenes until next week, for the full moon,” Susie explained.  
  
“I don’t see why we had to get here so early,” Scorpius complained. “I only have two scenes today.”  
  
“I have three. Did you read the script for episode four? They’re breaking up Nixie and Aura. Aura’s going to cheat because she thinks Nixie is already cheating on her with Basil. The fans are going to be outraged.”  
  
“I bet,” Scorpius said. He grinned. “You and Lindsey had the Twitter trending record until Louie and I—” Scorpius stopped when he realized what he was saying.  
  
Four months had passed since the season two finale aired and the world found out that Louie Lestrange wouldn’t be returning for season three of _Hogwarts_. Fans were devastated; Louie’s character Alfie was everyone’s favorite, especially when it came to pairing him off with the ever-charming Basil.  
  
The fans weren’t the only ones who were hurt by the news of Alfie leaving, though. He and Louie were… something… and somewhere in the rush of keeping things to secret after dark trailer meetings, Louie didn’t tell Scorpius he was trying out for movies and planning on quitting the show.  
  
After they filmed Alfie’s goodbye, Louie stopped visiting Scorpius’ trailer.  
  
An arm wrapped around Scorpius’ waist, and Susie pulled him into a hug. He leaned his head against hers, silently thanking her for understanding. She was the only one who knew what actually happened between him and Louie. A few of the fan speculations he’d seen weren’t actually all that far off – if much more graphic – but Susie was the one who comforted him after Louie called things off to maintain his image.  
  
“You’re late!” JC called out to them when they walked on set. Scorpius finished off the end of his cone before crossing the street towards the crew.  
  
“Sorry, got caught up in the shops,” Scorpius said, grabbing the script from JC’s assistant. He refreshed himself on the scene they were about to act out, before handing the script back and putting on the fake glasses another assistant was holding out. After slipping the robe over his street clothes and getting his makeup touched up, Scorpius waited for the director’s cue to start.  
  
Even though the robes were unbearably hot in the sun, Scorpius liked that he could keep his phone on him during easier scenes without it showing. During the more action packed ones he’d leave it in his trailer, but since they were just supposed to be walking down the street, he could text while he waited for scene setups. He pulled out his phone and frowned when his screen was empty.  
  
He tried not to let Susie’s words about Louie hooking up with someone else get to him, but he couldn’t help but let the thoughts cross his mind as he waited for the scene director to change her mind again and again. They were filming the introduction to the bad guy of the season. Basil and Nixie meet up in the street leading up to the school – the reason for the need for a new location – to discuss the attacks at the opening feast. Little do the two characters know, the bad guy – to be revealed in episode ten – would be watching their every move. They wouldn’t actually film the attacks until they were back in London.  
  
Scorpius shook his head. He couldn’t believe JC was actually going with werewolves.  
  
Shoving his phone back into the robes, Scorpius pushed away his thoughts of Louie and got back in the headspace of Basil. It was like returning home for Scorpius, playing Basil. Sometimes Scorpius even thought of Basil as a much more charming, confident version of himself. In real life, Scorpius would never have the courage to say the kinds of things that Basil says.  
  
“I don’t have five minutes, Angie, I have twenty seconds!” JC shouted from behind the camera crew, tapping his finger on his empty wrist. Scorpius pushed the glasses up onto his nose as another crew member came out with the sound marker. He watched Angie, the set coordinator, run off to the sidelines.  
  
“ACTION!”  
  
Scorpius plastered on a typical, cocky Basil smile and walked from one piece of tape on the road to the next. “Nixie,” he said, letting his smile fall to one that he knew the fans would take as ‘falling in love’.  
  
At least, that’s how they took it when he gave that smile to Louie.  
  
“CUT!” JC shouted. Scorpius watched him stand as he walked back to his first position. When he turned around, JC was right behind him.  
  
“You’re unfocused,” the producer told him. He watched behind JC as two people ran from offstage to adjust Susie’s hair.  
  
“I’m fine,” Scorpius told him. JC gave him an unconvinced frown. “Sorry, I’ll make it more convincing.”  
  
JC clapped him on the back. “I know you will, mate.” He turned towards the crew and shouted, “Reset!”  
  
They did the scene four more times before JC was satisfied with the way Basil was smiling at Nixie. Scorpius thought he and Susie were convincing enough, but JC kept having them redo takes until his assistant finally moved things along.  
  
Filming took them into the late afternoon, and in order to keep the opening scenes bright and happy, JC wrapped the day before the sun went down. Scorpius wasn’t required to be on set the next day until 0900, so he could actually sleep in that night. He wished he could just go back to his trailer and relax for the evening, but Susie would never let him ditch out on their plan.  
  
He didn’t even know what he was supposed to do that evening. He played the overly-confident Basil on TV, but it wasn’t like he was actually decent at talking to cute boys when he didn’t have a script in front of him. He didn’t even know what the dark haired boy’s name was.  
  
“I know that face,” Susie said, poking his side. “You are not ditching me tonight.”  
  
Scorpius plastered on the fakest smile he could muster. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”  
  
“Come on,” Susie said, grabbing onto his robes. “PR wants us to hold hands and go talk to that crowd for a bit.”  
  
“Gross.” Scorpius let her drag him away from the set and towards the security blockage. Susie turned and rolled her eyes at him, interlocking their fingers before Scorpius could argue.  
  
It wasn’t that Scorpius hated talking to fans, it was just hard sometimes. He really appreciated all of the nice things that people said about his acting and the show, but sometimes people went way overboard. At a meet and greet last year, some of their fans started a ten-minute chant of ‘Balfie, Balfie!’ that ate away at other paying fans’ time to ask actual questions.  
  
“The first one that shouts _Balfie_ at me, I’m leaving,” Scorpius hissed at her.  
  
They made it through the security point without any issue, and the second the crowd started screaming at the sight of them, Scorpius plastered on what he called his ‘Basil Smile’. Cameras flashed all around them as Susie moved in close to pose for them.  
  
Feeling much like a pawn being sacrificed, Scorpius wrapped his arm around Susie’s shoulder and kissed her on the temple. The fans screamed at that, and Scorpius was sure his Twitter mentions were exploding that very moment.  
  
“I’m going to vomit,” Scorpius muttered into her hair.  
  
Susie kept her huge smile, but Scorpius could feel her shaking with laughter. They both signed a few autographs, posed for a few selfies, before waving goodbye and crossing back through security.  
  
Scorpius hated faking straight. He’d been so close to coming out publically when all of the drama went down between him and Louie. His close friends and parents knew, but he hadn’t made the public statement required by any queer kid to validate themselves to society. Louie had discouraged it, saying it would only fuel the rumors about them. When Scorpius pointed out that they weren’t exactly rumors if some of them were true, Louie just got more upset with him.  
  
With the push from JC to convince fans of Basil and Nixie, Scorpius was sure it would create a nightmare for his boss if he came out now. Of course, that was exactly what Susie wanted. As much as some of the big wigs threatened to replace them, the fans lived on the casts’ every move, and Susie and Scorpius knew they’d never be replaced. Scorpius stopped watching the number after he passed one million Twitter followers.  
  
Susie truly, genuinely loved her fans more than any of them, and wanted to give them everything they wanted. Everything most recently included a shakeup of the typical ‘best male/female friends to lovers’ line that every TV show, now including Hogwarts, seemed to be doing. In order to distract fans from Alfie’s departure, the writers finally gave in to fan demands and put in a Nixie and Aura storyline.  
  
“I’ve just texted Rose, be ready at eight,” Susie told him.  
  
“I can’t believe you just gave your number to a random fan. I bet you anything she posts it on Twitter and you’re changing it by tomorrow,” Scorpius said. They were at their trailers, and all Scorpius wanted to do was take a nap before he was dragged around this town.  
  
Susie was smiling at her phone as she said, “It’s not that big of a deal. I don’t think I’ve had the same cell number for more than a month since I was twelve.” Scorpius watched her send a rapid-fire text message before she looked up. “I will be storming into your trailer at exactly 7:45, so please make sure you’re not in sweatpants by then.”  
  
“No promises. I might even wear sweatpants to the lighthouse,” Scorpius said. He held onto his serious composure until she threw up her arms and left, storming off to her own trailer, and she made a rude hand gesture at him when he started laughing.  
  
Scorpius closed the door behind him, making a beeline for his sweatpants. 


	4. Episode 4: Kiss a Pretty Girl

“So, you and Rose want to go down to the beach after dark with two people you’ve only just met?” Albus’ dad settled into the recliner in their living room.  
  
Albus opened his mouth to argue, and quickly closed it. He wished he would have waited for his father to change out of his police uniform before he asked, as it was much more difficult to convince him of anything when he was working. After a moment, Albus said, “Rose knows them. Kind of.”  
  
“Rose watches the TV show they star in,” his dad clarified.  
  
“Uh… yeah,” Albus said. “Nothing bad’s going to happen though! You even said, the police are going to be out doing extra patrols because of the show filming here.”  
  
“You won’t be walking to the lighthouse,” Harry said.  
  
Albus groaned. “Dad, that’s the part they want to see! I thought you said you and mum supported me being gay?”  
  
He knew it was a low blow the instant the words left his mouth, and sure enough his father’s frown sharpened.  
  
“Albus Potter, there is a very big difference in supporting who you are as a person and wanting to make sure you know how to be safe,” his dad said.  
  
Albus frowned. “I know, I’m sorry. I just… really want to hang out with Rose, and I know she wants to take them to see the lighthouse.”  
  
“You know having relations on the beach will get you a night in jail.”  
  
“Oh my god, _Dad_! I don’t even know this guy!” Albus dropped his head in his hands, hiding his red face. This couldn’t be happening. “It’s not even a date.”  
  
When he looked up, his father was laughing. “Be home by midnight.”  
  
Albus stood and didn’t bother to hold back his grin. “Thanks, dad! I will!”  
  
His mother passed him on the staircase as Albus ran up to grab his phone, and he could hear her telling his father what a softie he was.  
  
Albus walked over to Rose’s house around 7:30, knowing it would take them time to walk down to the lake and more time to meet up with Scorpius Malfoy and Susie Nott. If the celebrities even showed up. Rose had called him earlier freaking out that Susie Nott had just sent her a freaking text message asking about where they were meeting, but Albus still had his doubts. Why would two famous actors want to hang out with a pair of local nobodies? It just didn’t add up to him.  
  
“I can hear you brooding from here!” Rose called from the front door. She was wearing a flowy dress covered in flowers, and Albus could see the straps of her brightly colored bathing suit around her neck. He looked down to his own shorts, figuring he could just get those wet if they decided to swim.  
  
“Do you actually honestly think these two super famous celebrities are going to show up to hang out with _us_?” Albus asked her.  
  
Rose laughed. “They’re not that famous. Most of the fans of the show are teenagers.”  
  
“ _We’re_ teenagers,” Albus said.  
  
“Can’t you just be optimistic for once?” Rose asked him. “I do not want to spend another summer scooping ice cream and wasting my young life away. I want to have a summer romance.” Rose skipped ahead of him and twirled in a circle, giggling to the sky. She stopped and faced him. “I want to kiss a pretty girl.”  
  
Albus couldn’t help but laugh. “I will do everything in my power to help you kiss a pretty girl.”  
  
“Thank you! Where has that Albus been all my life?” Rose asked, linking her arm through his. “Are you excited to hang out with Scorpius?” The lilt she put on Scorpius’ name had Albus rolling his eyes.  
  
“I guess,” Albus shrugged.  
  
“Oh, come on,” Rose shook his arm. “You can’t tell me you don’t think he’s gorgeous.”  
  
Albus chuckled. “Yeah, he’s good looking. I’m so looking forward to staring at the top of his head as he spends the night chatting away to his millions of Twitter followers.”  
  
Rose sighed and linked her arm with his. “You’re hopeless.”  
  
The beach wasn’t too far of a walk from Rose’s house, so the pair made it there well before eight. Albus played around on his phone while they waited, finally responding to all of his Snapchats. He smiled to himself as he typed _@ the lighthouse w/ Rose_. With the sun setting behind him, his selfie actually looked good.  
  
“Smile, Rose,” Albus said, flipping the camera around and holding his phone up. The picture was a little shaky, but her smile was big so he posted it to his story anyway.  
  
“Rose! Hey!”  
  
“Oh my god,” Rose exclaimed as she ran past Albus. When he turned, Rose was hugging an equally enthusiastic Susie Nott. When they broke apart, Albus watched Susie’s fingertips linger on Rose’s arm for an extra moment.  
  
Susie turned to him. “I didn’t catch your name in the shop? Scorpius and I have been calling you ‘cute dark haired boy’ all day.”  
  
At the same time that Albus felt all of the blood in his body rush to his face, Scorpius’ head whipped around from looking at the water. Albus found a small comfort in the fact that the celebrity looked just as mortified as he felt.  
  
“Uh, it’s Al— Albus,” Albus muttered.  
  
“Albus,” Susie repeated, “On behalf of my best friend Scorpius—”  
  
“On behalf of nothing,” Scorpius interrupted the girl, turning to Albus. “Susie is an insane person; don’t trust anything she says ever.”  
  
Albus chuckled, feeling much more relaxed than he did in the shop. At work it felt like he was catering to a pair of posh celebrities, but here on the beach without stage makeup or camera equipment, the two bickering friends felt like normal teenagers.  
  
Scorpius grinned as he fake-argued with Susie, and Albus couldn’t help but watch the way the corners of his eyes crinkled as he did. He was really attractive, in the way most famous people were. Outside at the beach, though, he seemed so much more at ease than he did in the ice cream shop.  
  
Susie waved a hand to cut Scorpius off, turning to Rose. “We should swim!” Albus had to stifle his laughter when Susie held out a hand for Rose to take; he wished he still had his phone in his hand to take a picture of Rose’s shocked expression. As soon as Rose took Susie’s hand, the two ran off towards the water together.  
  
Albus looked over to Scorpius, and after a moment, the two started to laugh.  
  
“Rose is completely in love with Susie, by the way,” Albus told him. “She has a poster of her over her bed.”  
  
“Susie doesn’t seem too far behind,” Scorpius commented lightly. He started to walk towards the water, so Albus followed. “Sorry, by the way, for her. She has this grand adventure idea or something for this summer, and has insisted I be dragged into it.”  
  
Albus smiled, remembering what Rose said on their walk down. “I don’t think you’ll find too much of that in Uppingham, compared to what you must be used to.” They walked up to the edge of the dry sand and sat next to Rose and Susie’s things. Out in the water, Rose was up to her knees, urging Susie to come in further than her ankles. Susie suddenly screamed and ran to Rose, wrapping her arms around Rose’s waist.  
  
“Rose is absolutely done for,” Albus said, chuckling. When Scorpius didn’t answer, Albus snuck a glance at him.  
  
Albus predicted it that afternoon, so he didn’t know why he was surprised when Scorpius was already on his phone. Rolling his eyes, he dug his feet into the sand and sighed. Ignoring the shrieks of laughter coming from the water, he leaned back on his hands and looked out to the sunset. If his phone’s camera wasn’t such a piece of garbage, he’d try to take some pictures of the sun over the lighthouse. He sat in silence for a few moments, enjoying the last few moments of warmth from the sun.  
  
“I think I’m going to take a walk,” Albus said aloud. He hoped Scorpius was at least paying enough attention that he could relay the message to Rose when she and Susie came back.  
  
“I’ll go with you,” Scorpius said, shutting his phone’s screen off.  
  
Albus brushed the sand off as he stood. “That’s alright, I’m sure the Twitterverse would miss you too much.”  
  
To Albus’ surprise, Scorpius cheeks filled with color. Albus immediately suppressed thoughts of how cute the boy looked. “Sorry, my boss was texting. Susie and I have to go in two hours early tomorrow to re-shoot some of the stuff we did today.”  
  
“Oh,” Albus said, “That sucks. What time do you guys have to be in?”  
  
“Seven.”  
  
Albus groaned. “I would die. I don’t think anyone should have to get up before ten in the summer.”  
  
Scorpius laughed. “You would not make it in the film industry.”  
  
“Glad for that,” Albus said, making quick steps over the rocks leading up onto the pier. He turned around to Scorpius, who was staring at the rocks. “Here,” he said, offering Scorpius his hand. Scorpius took it, squeezing tight as he stepped up the same rocks as Albus just had. Albus let go as soon as Scorpius was on the pier, and the two walked side by side.  
  
The sun was almost behind the horizon when Albus and Scorpius got to the end of the pier where the lighthouse was. Albus watched as Scorpius walked up to the red lighthouse, smiling as he read all of the sharpied graffiti. People wrote phone numbers, Twitter names, and initials in hearts all over the structure.  
  
“Do they ever paint over these?” Scorpius said, touching one of the names.  
  
“Every year,” Albus answered. He took a step forward to read some of them. “Tourists don’t realize that no one is ever going to go on Twitter and say ‘hey, got your name from the Uppingham Lighthouse!’”  
  
Scorpius smiled at him. “Do people ever jump off into the water?”  
  
“Only if you’ve got a death wish,” Albus told him. The pair walked to the end of the pier and sat, dangling their feet off the edge. Albus leaned forward and gestured for Scorpius to do the same. “See the rocks down below?” He could hear his father’s voice from when he was a kid warning him about the dangers of jumping off the Uppingham Pier.  
  
Albus leaned back on his hands as Scorpius looked forward into the water. If he turned around, he could just make out Rose and Susie in the water.  
  
Scorpius leaned back on his hands as well, making Albus jump when their fingers touched.  
  
“Sorry,” Scorpius muttered, pulling his hand away. In the last bits of sunlight, Albus could still make out the blush on the boy’s cheeks.  
  
“No,” Albus said hastily, “It’s definitely okay.” Before he could psych himself out, he slid his hand over and touched his fingers back to Scorpius’. This time, Scorpius didn’t pull away. “I think,” Albus said after a few moments, “I’m going to go home and actually watch _Hogwarts_.”  
  
Scorpius threw his head back in laughter. “I can’t believe Rose hasn’t made you.”  
  
“The only thing I know about the show is from Tumblr. Actually, I do remember you, and that red-headed fellow. What’s his name?”  
  
Watching Scorpius go from laughing to instantly reeling away had Albus’ memories crashing back to him. He felt like a capital arse when he remembered Rose telling him about the speculations regarding Scorpius and the other boy on the show. Scorpius was turning to stand, so Albus hurriedly did the same.  
  
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry,” Albus said as Scorpius started away from him. Before he could think, he reached out and grabbed Scorpius’ arm. Scorpius stopped and turned, looking down to where Albus was holding him. “I’m sorry,” Albus repeated.  
  
Scorpius nodded. “I freaking hate Tumblr.” His voice was small and sad, and it made Albus want to fight whoever had hurt the boy in front of him. Albus slid his hand from Scorpius’ elbow to his fingers, giving them a squeeze before dropping his arm to his side.  
  
“We should go back,” Albus said. “Not because I want this night to be over,” Albus added hastily. Scorpius laughed quietly. “I have a curfew and we have to walk, and my dad will murder me if I’m late.”  
  
“I do not miss that,” Scorpius said. The two started back towards the beach. “Though, I know Susie has a lot of scenes tomorrow, and makeup will be mad if she has bags they have to cover.”  
  
“I should probably rescue Rose before she proposes to Susie,” Albus commented. The beach, as it usually was after the sun went down, was almost empty; it was too early in the year for swimmers to be out late, as the water held a chill without the sun warming it. Albus could just make out Susie and Rose snogging in the sand.  
  
Albus leaned in close to Scorpius, purposely touching their shoulders together. “Should we announce our presence now, or scare the shit out of them?”  
  
“Absolutely reckless, she is,” Scorpius muttered, tugging out his phone. Albus watched him dismiss text message notifications and pull up his camera. Just as they walked up to Rose and Susie, Scorpius set of the flash from behind them.  
  
Both of the girls flew apart, and Susie tried to cover her and Rose’s faces with the towel they’d been lying on.  
  
“Good thing I’m not the paparazzi,” Scorpius said lightly. Susie tugged the towel off of them when she recognized Scorpius’ voice. Her glare was murderous.  
  
Albus didn’t care what Rose would do to him, because it was completely worth it to see the way Scorpius laughed at Susie’s berating.  
  
“We should start walking back anyway,” Rose said, out of breath. She stood and shook the sand out of her hair. “I have to be at the shop at six tomorrow.”  
  
“Stay for a bit,” Susie told her. “I can call for a car; they can drop you off.”  
  
Albus laughed. “Rosie if you show up in a stranger’s car, you know your dad will interrogate the driver.”  
  
“He’s right,” Rose said to Susie. She glanced to Albus for a moment, before she grabbed Susie’s arm and pulled her aside. Her face was suddenly serious, so Albus turned away to give them privacy. He turned to Scorpius.  
  
“You should—”  
  
“We should—”  
  
Albus grinned. “We should. Again.”  
  
“You should give me your number,” Scorpius said.  
  
Albus rattled off his phone number as Scorpius typed it into his phone. A moment later, his phone buzzed in his pocket with a new message.  
  
 _Please don’t post my phone number on the internet..._  
  
Albus laughed out loud. “I won’t.”  
  
After breaking Rose away from Susie, the pair said their goodbyes and started walking home. When they were out of sight of the two celebrities, Rose started jumping up and down.  
  
“Oh my god, Albus, I snogged Susie Nott,” she squealed. “I snogged Susie freaking Nott on the beach.”  
  
“You sure did,” Albus said.  
  
Rose turned to him. “What about you and Scorpius?” she asked excitedly. “How freaking romantic, you taking him out to the lighthouse. Susie was thrilled when we realized you two weren’t just moping in the sand watching us.”  
  
Albus feigned casual. “We just talked. He’s really quiet.”  
  
“Bit hard to imagine, if you knew Basil,” Rose said. They stopped in front of her house. “See you at work tomorrow?”  
  
“Unfortunately.”  
  
“Do your laundry,” Rose told him. Albus rolled his eyes and started for his own house. “Seriously, Albus,” she called down the street, “ _Lynx Africa_ is disgusting. I feel like it’s burning my nostrils every time you walk by me.”  
  
“Goodnight Rose!” Albus called over his shoulder. He walked home quickly; he wanted to watch the first episode of _Hogwarts_ on Netflix so he would have something to actually talk to Scorpius about.  
  
Because Scorpius actually wanted to see him again.  
  
By the grace of some unknown higher power, Albus’ parents were already in their room when he got home. Padfoot greeted him at the door, and after a few minutes of attention, Albus headed upstairs. After knocking on his parents’ door to let them know he was home, he threw his phone onto his bed and grabbed all of the clothes off his bedroom floor. He set the washer to the quickest cycle and went back to his room to change into pajamas.  
  
His phone was lit with a text notification when he sat on his bed, where Padfoot was already settling himself for the night. Albus would admit he was disappointed it wasn’t from Scorpius. He rolled his eyes when he read he had three text messages from Rose.  
  
 _Did you see Scorpius’ tweet from earlier?  
  
Albus text me back omg  
  
Scorpius freaking Malfoy tweeted about YOU!_  
  
He didn’t answer Rose, heading right for Twitter. He had to search for Scorpius’ profile, which wasn’t difficult to find. Refreshing the page, he read the Tweet timestamped from three hours prior.  
  
 _Basil is good at talking to cute people. Scorpius is not._  
  
Albus’ hands were shaking. He scrolled through a few of the other Tweets Scorpius had posted; all of them had thousands and thousands of likes and retweets, the newest one no different. Scrolling back up, he clicked on the most recent one. The replies were endless; fans were asking if he was talking about Susie, some of them even brought up Louie Lestrange. The majority, though, were fans asking why Scorpius said ‘people’ instead of ‘girls’.  
  
Another text from Rose came in while Albus was scrolling through the replies.  
  
 _I’m going to assume you’re dead if you don’t answer me._  
  
He threw his phone on his bedside table and fell back onto his pillow. Scorpius Tweeted to his 1.2 million Twitter followers about being nervous to talk to Albus.  
  
Scorpius thought Albus was cute.


	5. Episode 5: ;)

In reality, Scorpius got four hours of sleep that night. After getting out of the car and saying goodbye to Susie, he made a beeline to his trailer and crashed into the pullout.  
  
However, it felt like he’d only been asleep for a few small, precious moments before a pounding on his trailer door startled him awake.  
  
“Who’sit?” Scorpius called, rolling over and squinting.  
  
“I’m coming in,” Susie announced.  
  
Scorpius groaned and pulled his duvet over his head. It wasn’t possible that she could be awake already. This had to be a nightmare.  
  
In lieu of any sort of greeting, Susie said, “you’re trending.”  
  
“I’m what?” Scorpius asked from underneath his blanket.  
  
“Just in the UK, but still. Your vague Tweet about Albus got some attention. Like… a lot of attention. That article about you and Louie is going around again.”  
  
Scorpius threw his blanket off of his head. “What?”  
  
Susie held up her phone. Blinking the sleep out of his eyes, Scorpius scrolled through post after post pointing out how his stupid Tweet from the night before proved how he wasn’t straight.  
  
“This is brilliant,” Susie said, taking her phone back.  
  
Scorpius dropped back down onto his pillow and pulled his blanket back over his head. Maybe if he just hid, he could wake up from this Susie and Twitter filled nightmare. “JC’s going to be so pissed off.”  
  
“No he won’t. Just tell him it was about me and you’re off the hook. The press is just going to write about whatever they want anyway.”  
  
Sliding just his arm from under his blanket, Scorpius reached to the table next to his bed and grabbed his phone. He ignored the texts from Louie and his mother and pulled up Twitter.  
  
He hadn’t thought anything of saying people the previous night. At this point, he didn’t even care if that was what outed him, so long as it was done and over with. Scrolling through the replies, though, _everyone_ was asking about it. There were a few hopefuls who thought he was talking about Susie, but a lot of people were asking about Louie. Scorpius groaned and shut his screen off.  
  
“This is terrible.” He could already feel the wrath of his bosses.  
  
“This could not be less terrible,” Susie said, tugging his duvet off. “Come on, we’re due at makeup in ten minutes.”  
  
“You are. I don’t have to be there until seven.”  
  
“JC changed the time again,” Susie told him.  
  
Scorpius took his time changing that morning, partially to piss Susie off, and partially to delay the conversation he knew JC was going to have with him when he arrived at makeup.  
  
Sure enough, their Executive Producer was waiting at the door to the makeup trailer, clutching a tablet angrily. Susie brushed right past him, heading straight for the chair where she’d sit for an hour and get Nixie’s perfect curls put back in.  
  
Scorpius, however, wasn’t so lucky.  
  
“I know, I know,” Scorpius said, pushing the tablet out of his face. “I’ll make a post on set with Susie today.”  
  
“You’re damn right you will,” JC said. Scorpius rolled his eyes and sat in the chair next to Susie.  
  
Basil’s makeup was easy enough that Scorpius could be in and out before they finished half of Susie’s hair, so Scorpius tugged out his phone while he waited. Biting his lip, he turned the chair away from his friend when he realized he had a new text message from Albus.  
  
 _Please tell me the glasses aren’t just a Basil thing_  
  
Scorpius shook with silent laughter, typing: _Basil’s charm and my curse. The lenses are actually CGI._  
  
He waited for a response from Albus while one of the crew members got him camera ready. His hair was always perfectly messy, and they always highlighted his jawline as much as they could. He knew one day he’d be cursed with losing his hair just like his father, so he appreciated what they did to hide his widow’s peak. It was even worse with his – also hereditary – silvery blond hair. The Malfoy curses.  
  
Albus didn’t bring up the tweet, which made Scorpius wonder if he was even in the thousands of people who circulated it the previous night. He didn’t even know Albus’ last name to see if he was following him.  
  
His phone lit up with another text from Albus.  
  
 _:O the truth revealed! Maybe we should watch together so I can find out more_  
  
Another one came in before he could reply.  
  
 _;)_  
  
The woman working on his camera makeup started laughing, and Scorpius knew he was blushing.  
  
“Sorry,” Scorpius muttered.  
  
She laughed again. “Tell Louie we miss him.”  
  
He bit his lip, deciding against correcting her, even after Susie gave him a look through the mirror.  
  
His phone lit up with another message.  
  
 _***:) omg that was not supposed to be a winking face I swear I’m not that smooth_  
  
Scorpius shook with laughter and typed:  
  
 _That’s disappointing._  
  
The makeup woman tutted at him, so Scorpius shut his screen off and apologized again. He knew they were almost finished, so he closed his eyes and waited for her to spray him down with setting stuff that would make the product impossible to get off later.  
  
When he opened his eyes after the mist settled, Susie was standing in front of him, completely transformed into Nixie.  
  
“JC pushed our time back.”  
  
Scorpius groaned. “He’s just doing this to punish me for that Tweet.”  
  
“Let’s go get ice cream,” Susie said, smirking.  
  
“It’s seven thirty.”  
  
“The shop does coffee drinks in the morning,” she told him.  
  
Scorpius raised an eyebrow at her. “How do you know?” He followed her out of the makeup trailer and across the cobblestone street. Susie linked her arm with his as they walked down the sidewalk and past crew members setting scenes up, where they’d be spending most of their day.  
  
“Rose and I actually talked a lot last night—” Scorpius snorted. “I’m serious!” she said through giggles; “You and Albus just happened to walk up in the middle of…” she let her sentence trail off as Scorpius got the picture. “She’s up for a promotion at the shop; the coffees were her idea to bring more business in the morning in. She’s really smart.”  
  
“You like her?” Scorpius asked.  
  
Susie smiled. “Yeah… I mean, I don’t see it going anywhere, you know? It’s not like we’re going to keep in touch after this summer. It’s just fun.” She leaned her head on his shoulder. “What about you, though? I know you weren’t texting Louie back there, you were actually smiling.”  
  
Scorpius bit his lip. “Yeah, no, it was Albus. He started watching the show.”  
  
“That’s absolutely adorable,” Susie said. They were in front of the shop, so Susie let go of his arm and turned to him. “Don’t embarrass me in front of Rose.”  
  
“You do that enough yourself.” Scorpius grinned when Susie scoffed, and he held the door open for her.  
  
He was nervous about seeing Albus again, especially in his stage makeup. What if Albus only thought he looked good as Basil, and not as himself? He looked behind the counter for the dark haired boy as he and Susie got into the small queue in front of the till. There were only a few people in front of them – crew members, he guessed, since the street was still closed off – so they made it up to the register quick enough.  
  
An older woman with brightly colored glasses greeted them at the register. Rose was working on the coffee drinks off to the side, so Susie and Scorpius quickly ordered so they could greet her.  
  
Scorpius had to bite back laughter at Rose’s surprised face when Susie said her name.  
  
“You’re my last ticket,” Rose said, looking over to the woman at the register for a second. When her boss nodded, Rose said, “I’m about to take my break.” There was hesitation in her tone.  
  
“We’ll grab a table, meet us over there?” Susie asked, to which Rose nodded, seemingly relieved.  
  
Scorpius thought about asking where Albus was, but Susie was dragging him off to the table before he could get the words out.  
  
Rose joined them with three paper cups a few moments later. Without hesitation, Susie slid over to make space for Rose to sit.  
  
“You should have come later,” Rose said to Scorpius after taking a sip of her drink. “Albus doesn’t start until eleven.”  
  
Scorpius smiled, remembering what Albus had said about his inability to wake up early. “Susie absolutely insisted on coming to visit after our time got pushed back. She said you came up with the idea to add coffees on the menu, and we had to try them.”  
  
He savored the taste of his coffee as Susie and Rose chatted, only paying attention when Albus was brought up. Rose apparently worked at the shop a lot more than Albus did, and they only lived a few blocks away. The whole city of Uppingham was accessible by walking, but Albus usually got a ride because he was usually late.   
  
“Oh my god, It’s Scorpius Malfoy!”  
  
Scorpius closed his eyes as a pair of footsteps ran up from behind him. He plastered on what he hoped wouldn’t look like a horribly fake grin and turned to the two young girls. He didn’t know how or where they’d pulled them from, but the two had copies of the special edition season one DVDs of _Hogwarts_ , and were shoving them into his face along with a sharpie. Used to the whole charade, Scorpius stood from the table to sign them and pose for the girls’ mother to take pictures. The mother gave him an apologetic smile that Scorpius ignored. He looked around; some of the other tables were staring, but a lot of the crew members ignored them. After the girls fawned over Susie – recognizable curls causing a second outburst – they left the shop without buying anything.  
  
“Someone must have posted a picture of us walking into the shop,” Susie said, tugging out her phone. After a few moments of searching, Susie turned her phone around to show Scorpius a candid of the two of them talking in front of _Fortescue's_ from twenty minutes prior.  
  
“How would they even get past security?” Scorpius asked. “They’re clearly non-essential.”  
  
“Some of the shops on Diagon Alley have flats above them,” Rose told them. “There’s even an inn above the bar, The Leaky Cauldron, at the end of the street.”  
  
“They wouldn’t be able to keep out people who live on the street or who are staying at the inn,” Susie added.  
  
Scorpius grimaced. “They could have at least purchased a coffee. The mother is basically just letting them loiter and disrupt business.”  
  
“My eighty year old best friend, trapped in a seventeen year old’s body,” Susie told Rose. Scorpius made a face at her, and tugged out his phone. He ignored Susie and Rose as he opened Albus’ text message.  
  
 _You should come over after work. We could walk from the shop and watch Netflix with my mum eavesdropping from the kitchen. Super convincing, I know_  
  
He bit his lip as he typed his reply.  
  
 _A completely typical teenager date? I’m definitely in. Side question, why are you awake right now?_  
  
His phone lit up with a response a few moments later.  
  
 _My brother has football early in the morning, and has no regard for us night owls._  
  
Another text came in as he sipped his coffee.  
  
 _I’m done at four ;) (I did mean that one)_  
  
Scorpius hid his smile behind his coffee cup.  
  
On set that morning, through the early afternoon, time seemed to drag more than normal. Scorpius felt like he would be saying the line, “Nixie, quick, under here!” in his sleep that night. They were filming the scene where Basil and Nixie sneak out of the castle to search for clues. This particular scene wouldn’t appear in the show until the third episode of the season, but they wanted to use Diagon Alley as much as possible before resetting equipment elsewhere.  
  
Scorpius was itching to check his text messages from Albus. He tried to watch for Albus walking to work earlier, but after getting yelled at by Angie and JC for being distracted, he forwent his effort to spot the dark haired boy.  
  
He was excited for the date. He wasn’t sure if that’s what they were calling it, but Albus hadn’t corrected him and Susie wasn’t going to be there, so that’s what Scorpius was referring to it as.  
  
He’d never been on an actual date. All of his experience around someone he was attracted to happened behind closed doors in a locked trailer.  
  
And he was going to meet Albus’ mother.  
  
“Let’s go through scene fifty-four once more, and we’ll finish for the day,” JC called through a megaphone.  
  
Scorpius took his place and waited for camera setup. Basil and Nixie were supposed to almost get caught by one of their teachers, and were huddling behind a cart of magical plants. Scorpius had to wrap his arm around Susie’s waist while they were hiding, and after the teacher passed, Nixie would look up and Basil would look down, realizing the ‘compromising’ position they were in. They were to stare longingly into each other’s eyes until one of the magical plants would grab for them, scaring them out of the almost-moment. The plant was going to be added by CGI in editing, so Scorpius had to react to a stick with a green focal point on the end.  
  
They did the take six times.  
  
“Cut! That’s a wrap for today,” JC called, cutting Scorpius and Susie’s fake embarrassed laughter. Susie went right behind the camera to watch the takes they’d just filmed, but Scorpius pulled out his phone. He had a text from Albus.  
  
 _I could totally film this production and become internet famous. Maybe I’d even have more Twitter followers than you_  
  
Scorpius shook his head, smiling. Albus had seen The Tweet, and wasn’t embarrassed about it. Scorpius looked up towards the ice cream shop and chuckled. Albus was sitting on the windowsill of the shop with his apron draped over his neck. He was staring down at his phone, and Scorpius could just make out his smile when he looked up.  
  
“Malfoy!”  
  
Scorpius jerked around to JC and Angie. Susie covered a smirk behind her hand. Without having to be told twice, Scorpius jogged over to watch the footage.  
  
They were convincing, he and Susie. The work was easy enough for Scorpius, and with CGI and the perfect music, the fans would definitely think that Basil and Nixie were falling in love. It was one of the reasons Scorpius loved having Susie as his co-star on _Hogwarts_. As well as being the best emotional support he could ask for, Susie was an incredible actress. She had chemistry with every one of the actors on set, and made whatever was thrown at her work flawlessly.  
  
“Scorpius, a word before you head out.” JC’s expression had Scorpius hesitating from taking his phone out. The Executive Producer gestured for them to step aside, away from Susie and Angie.  
  
“I’ll say it again, Scorpius, you’re distracted.” His boss knew how to cut right to the point. Scorpius remained silent, so JC continued. “Look, I wasn’t blind back at Pinewood Studios, and I knew what was going on between you and Louie.”  
  
Scorpius felt his cheeks burn.  
  
“I know it wasn’t right of Scottie to ask you and Susie to pretend there was something going on between the two of you, especially knowing that. So, if that’s what’s distracting you, I hereby lift the request to pose as a couple with your co-star.” His tone held an edge of sarcasm that just annoyed Scorpius even further.  
  
Gritting his teeth, Scorpius said, “Thanks, boss. Am I free to go off and be gay now?” He felt that familiar tumble in his stomach from saying the words he so rarely said out loud, even through his annoyance.  
  
JC laughed, clapping him on the back. “That’s my boy. I need you to bring your A-game tomorrow, 110% when we film the Nixie/Aura breakup. What do they call that one? Naura? I hope you’re ready.”  
  
“Let’s break some hearts,” Scorpius muttered, giving JC what he hoped looked like an enthusiastic thumbs up.  
  
It _would_ break hearts. Everyone loved Naura as much as they loved Balfie, and Naura was actually canon.  
  
Scorpius made a beeline for _Fortescue's_ as soon as JC walked away. Fired up from the talk, he jogged down the sidewalk and right up to Albus. Albus looked surprised, and when he opened his mouth to speak, Scorpius held up a finger.  
  
“I want to go on a totally typical teenager date with you, right now.”  
  
Albus grinned and stood from the windowsill. “So let’s go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't get your hopes up at this 'quick' updating, it won't last :p


	6. Episode 6: Totally Typical Teenager Date

Albus hated having siblings. Especially stupid little fourteen-year-old sisters who never left the house and had their own lives. How he wished he could be an only child. No bathroom to share with an older brother, and no sister to scream when he opened the front door with a boy.  
  
Even if the boy was famous.  
  
“Oh my god, oh my god, I can’t even,” Lily was saying into the couch, where she’d buried her head after screaming when Albus opened the door. Padfoot was sticking his nose into Lily’s face and whining, trying to figure out what was wrong. “This isn’t possible, half my OTP in my living room. Oh my god. Padfoot!” Padfoot ran away from Lily and finally greeted Scorpius, sticking his nose right into Scorpius’ out-held hand.  
  
Scorpius turned to Albus, petting the dog. “So, is there anyone else in your family who _hasn’t_ seen the show, or are you the only one?”  
  
“Oh my god, he’s even more amazing in person.”  
  
“Shut up, Lily!” Albus couldn’t believe his sister was such a weirdo. “Let’s go up to my room.”  
  
“Not so fast.”  
  
Why was this his life?  
  
“Hey, mum, you’re home early,” Albus said, cringing as his mother walked into the living room. Even if his dad was head of the police force in Uppingham, his mum would always scare him more.  
  
“Who’s your friend?” His mother’s voice had a terrifying saccharine tone.  
  
“Uh, this is Scorpius,” Albus said as the aforementioned boy stepped forward. Scorpius reached out and offered his hand to Albus’ mum. “He’s in town filming for the summer. We were just going to go to my room and watch Netflix, so—”  
  
“Scorpius, it’s great to meet you,” Ginny said, cutting off her son.  
  
“You two, Mrs.—” Scorpius’ sentence trailed, and Albus could see a sharp shade of red fill his cheeks through the stage makeup he was still wearing.  
  
Albus’ mother gave him a look, before turning back to Scorpius. “Potter.”  
  
“Mrs. Potter, ma’am, sorry,” Scorpius said, looking helplessly at Albus.  
  
“Ok, Mum, anything else, or can we go upstairs?” Albus asked.  
  
“Door stays open,” Ginny said. Albus rolled his eyes and gestured to Scorpius, who looked very relieved to finally be free of Albus’ mum’s glare.  
  
Albus ran up the stairs as fast as he could, Scorpius on his heels.  
  
“Sorry,” he said when they reached the top. He took a deep breath and looked into his room. Spotting all of the clothes on the floor, he held up a finger to Scorpius. “Uh… wait here?” Before Scorpius could answer, Albus ran into his room. Lightning speed, he grabbed every article of clothing he could in a giant armful and threw it into his bathroom towards the direction of their hamper.  
  
When Albus turned back around, Scorpius was standing in the door frame, very obviously trying not to laugh.  
  
Trying and failing.  
  
“Sorry,” he said through spots of laughter, “I was just going to ask where the bathroom was to wash my face off.”  
  
Frozen in his spot, Albus lifted a slow hand and pointed to where Scorpius just watched him throw his heap of dirty laundry.  
  
“I think Lily might have some makeup wipes in the bathroom down the hall,” Albus said.  
  
Scorpius took a hesitant step into the room. In a small voice, he said, “I’m kind of scared of your sister.”  
  
“Uh,” Albus said, turning back into his bathroom. He stared at his counter, looking for anything that wasn’t toilet paper. “I have, um;” acne wipes. He felt color flooding his cheeks as he held out the box, attempting to use his hand to cover the label.  
  
Albus wondered what Scorpius’ Twitter followers would think of this.  
  
“Thanks,” Scorpius mumbled. He ripped open the wipe and dragged it along his face. Albus watched, mesmerized as the boy lost definition in his cheeks and jaw, and spots of reddened skin appeared. Satisfied, Scorpius crumpled the fabric in his palm and looked down to it. “Can I—” he gestured into the bathroom, where Albus realized he was still blocking the entrance. Albus stared at the color in his cheeks as he stepped aside.  
  
Shaking himself out of his revere, Albus crossed the room and pushed his door so it was only open a sliver. He turned to his bed and tugged the laptop out from underneath. His bed was in the corner of his room, so he sat with his feet dangling off the edge and turned on his computer. It was an ancient brick, a hand-me-down given to him by James, but it played Netflix and connected to the internet, so Albus didn’t need anything fancier. Albus looked up when the bathroom light shut off.  
  
Face washed and hair free of product, Scorpius looked younger. He looked like a teenager, awkward and unsure of himself standing in Albus’ room.  
  
Albus patted the spot on the bed next to him. “Totally typical teenager date?”  
  
Scorpius laughed and sat on the bed. Albus gave him a smile, and followed his line of vision to the laptop screen.  
  
 _Hogwarts_ was the first thing in Albus’ recently watched section, and the boy with the red hair, Alfie, was the promo picture. It was only on the screen for a few seconds before the image changed to Susie holding out a wand, but Albus didn’t miss the effect it had on Scorpius.  
  
“We’ll watch something else,” Albus said quickly, scrolling through the endless selection of shows. Scorpius visibly relaxed next to him, and Albus put pieces together that he was itching to ask Scorpius about. Albus scrolled until he found a show about adolescent lycanthropes that he’d been thinking of starting. He played the first episode, balancing the laptop between them.  
  
“Thank you,” Scorpius said suddenly.  
  
Albus looked to him, surprised. “It’s okay, really, I’m not gonna make you watch yourself act like a wizard on TV. That sounds like mild torture, actually. Definite third date material, though.”  
  
Scorpius laughed and said, “no, well, yeah, but… thank you for not acting weird around me. It’s really—”  
  
At Scorpius’ pause, Albus suggested, “Courageous? Sincere? _Attractive_?”  
  
Scorpius laughed at him. “You’re ridiculous.”  
  
For being the quiet one between the two of them, Scorpius made Albus pretty speechless when he settled into the bed and rested his head on Albus’ shoulder. Albus froze; he felt like if he moved too much, he’d definitely scare Scorpius off. Heart racing in his chest, Albus tried to work up the courage to wrap his arm around Scorpius’ shoulder. He had thought he’d be in the brave Gryffindor house from _Hogwarts_ , but this was out of his league.  
  
Scorpius chuckled at something that happened on the screen, so Albus decided to use the moment to readjust their bodies. They settled further into each other, Albus moving his arm so Scorpius could settle underneath it. His heart finally settled as he wrapped his other arm around Scorpius. If anything, he wanted to reassure to himself and the boy in his arms that this was a date.  
  
Of course, his phone buzzed from in his pocket a minute later, making both of them jump. Laughing, Scorpius shifted away so Albus could dig his phone out his trouser pocket.  
  
His phone was lit up with a Snapchat notification from Rose.  
  
“Of course it is,” Albus muttered. He turned the screen to show Scorpius the picture of Rose with the caption: _boooooored_.  
  
“Can I?” Scorpius asked, holding out his hand for Albus phone. Albus shrugged and handed it over, and with a few clicks, had the camera screen turned to them. Scorpius made a face into the camera, so Albus stuck his tongue out.  
  
It was Albus’ turn to blush when Scorpius typed the caption #netflixandchill and sent the picture to Rose. With a few quick clicks, Scorpius added his own snapchat to Albus’ contacts. A second later, Albus’ phone lit up with a notification that Rose screen-capped the picture.  
  
Seemingly satisfied, Scorpius handed Albus his phone back. “You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into,” Albus said as he tossed his phone on the bed next to him. “Rose calls me a Snapchat junkie. We had a hundred-day streak going before we went camping.”  
  
“Maybe I’ll actually be inclined to use Snapchat now,” Scorpius said, settling back into Albus’ arms. Albus pulled him closer and rested his chin on Scorpius’ shoulder. A noise almost escaped his mouth at the feeling of Scorpius’ abs under his shirt. Freaking celebrities. He could feel every soft breath that the boy in his arms took.  
  
They watched the show for a while, but for the life of him, Albus had no idea what was going on. All he wanted to focus on was the feeling of Scorpius’ fingers intertwined with his, the way his stomach flexed when he laughed, and the warmth in his own chest. Two days ago Scorpius Malfoy was nowhere near his radar, and yet now, there was nowhere he’d rather be.  
  
The first episode ended, and the screen brought up the option to play another episode. Neither of them moved. Albus turned and looked at Scorpius, watching the color prickle in his cheeks as the boy looked back.  
  
Albus leaned down just as Scorpius tilted his head up, pressing their lips together. Soft, hesitant touches turned confident as Scorpius twisted his body, reaching over to hold onto Albus’ shoulder. Albus gripped the fabric of Scorpius shirt and pulled Scorpius closer.  
  
Suddenly, Scorpius tugged back. Albus’ stomach dropped, panic flooding him that he just scared the boy off.  
  
“No, sorry,” Scorpius said, seeing Albus’ expression. Albus couldn’t help but stare at the boy’s reddened lips and the flush in his cheeks. “I just need to-” he shifted so he was at a better angle to push his lips to Albus’ again. Albus felt Scorpius’ tongue against his lips, and a noise escaped his throat as the kiss deepened. He squeezed Scorpius’ bicep.  
  
Thanks to a spin the bottle game when Albus was thirteen, this wasn’t his first kiss, but he could definitely say this blew Janie Burbage out of the water. She was the daughter of his year nine teacher, and a definite confirmation of his preference to the male gender.  
  
That couldn’t even compare to the soft noise Scorpius made when Albus moved on top of him, the way Scorpius’ fingers found purchase on Albus’ sides, and the way Albus’ heart raced in his chest as he fell for the boy under him.  
  
The telltale creak of his door had Albus flying off of Scorpius in half a second. He scrambled to grab for his computer and make it look like they were definitely just watching Netflix as his door inched open.  
  
“Mum, we’re fine--” Albus’ voice cracked as Scorpius struggled to sit up next to him.  
  
Padfoot stuck his head in and peeked around the door, panting happily.  
  
Albus and Scorpius both exhaled at the same time. He turned, making eye contact with Scorpius. The boy’s cheeks were flushed and his lips were wet. They both started laughing, and Padfoot took it as a sign to cross the room and leap up onto the bed. Scorpius started petting Padfoot, so Albus used his momentary distraction to readjust his trousers.  
  
“You’re a menace,” Albus told his dog fondly, reaching over to pet him. Padfoot basked in the attention, whining and licking wherever he could.  
  
There was a quick knock on his door before his mother entered. She had a laundry basket on her hip, and the look on her face made Albus hug Padfoot just a little tighter. “Your brother and father are on their way home. Is your friend staying for dinner?”  
  
Albus turned to Scorpius, who shook his head. “I should get back. We have some big scenes tomorrow.”  
  
Ginny nodded. “Padfoot, come.” Padfoot lept off of their laps and barreled after her.  
  
Twisting his body, Albus leaned his head against the wall, facing Scorpius. “You can stay. I promise Lily is the weirdest one.”  
  
Scorpius copied his position, resting his forehead against Albus’. “I’m not quite ready to meet your police officer father.”  
  
Albus chuckled. “He’s a softie. It’s my mother you should be scared of.”  
  
“I noticed.”  
  
Scorpius was smiling, so Albus leaned forward and kissed the small crinkle of skin on his temple. “Is this real?” Albus whispered into his skin.  
  
“I hope so,” Scorpius whispered back. Albus left a trail of kisses down Scorpius’ cheek, and a few more onto his lips.  
  
“When can I see you again?” Albus asked between kisses.  
  
Scorpius leaned his head against the wall. “I don’t know, but I hope it’s soon. We’ll come into the shop for sure.”  
  
“Better be careful with that mint chocolate chip, you’ll lose that eight-pack,” Albus said, using the conversation as an excuse to drag his fingers along Scorpius’ stomach.  
  
He felt Scorpius’ stomach move as he laughed. “I can already hear my trainer scolding me.”  
  
After a few attempts, Albus reluctantly stood from his bed. While Scorpius did the same, he stretched his arms above his head and yawned. Scorpius had his phone in his hand, and with a few clicks held it up to his ear. Albus waited while Scorpius called a ride back to Diagon Alley. When Scorpius hung up, he looked back to Albus.  
  
“This was— I’m—”  
  
“Not great at talking to cute people?” Albus smirked.  
  
Color filled Scorpius’ cheeks as he chuckled. “You saw that.”  
  
“Me and your twelve million Twitter followers certainly did.”  
  
“I don’t have twelve million Twitter followers,” Scorpius said, rolling his eyes. “I wasn’t even at one million until my mum Retweeted my birthday message to her last year. My mum doesn’t even have twelve million Twitter followers, and she has two Baftas.”  
  
The pair waited until Scorpius received a text that his ride was there before heading downstairs. He pointedly looked away from his family gawking from the dining room as he ushered Scorpius out the front door.  
  
Albus started saying goodbye, but before he could get the words out, Scorpius turned and pressed a kiss to his lips. He responded back with equal enthusiasm, smiling when Scorpius pulled back.  
  
“Maybe you are a Gryffindor after all,” Albus muttered. Scorpius groaned, dropping his head onto Albus’ shoulder.  
  
“Please no, I’ll stop being attracted to you if you become a fan of the show,” Scorpius said into his shirt. The car horn honked from the street, making both of them jump. With one final kiss, Scorpius waved goodbye and jogged to the car. Albus waited until the taillights disappeared around the corner before heading back into his house.  
  
His family was silent as he entered their dining room.  
  
Albus sat down at the table, feeling four pairs of eyes on him as he reached for the serving spoon.  
  
Of course, it was his sister who finally broke the silence. “How the _hell_ did you get Scorpius freaking Malfoy to hang out with _you_?”  
  
“You sound stupid when you try to talk like Rose,” Albus snarked at her, ignoring the feeling of his cheeks heating up. In seconds the entire kitchen was full of questions directed at him.  
  
Albus dropped the spoon and buried his head in his arms to hide his smile.


	7. Episode 7: Werewolf or Vampire

_Chinese food. Worst childhood memory?_  
  
_Finding out Santa wasn’t real. Tantrum in the middle of the mall. Favorite color_  
  
_Green. Not like grass, but like avocados. First crush?_  
  
_AVOCADOS = GROSS. benji cledwyn, year four, he gave me the toy from his kinder egg. How old were you when you came out to your parents_  
  
_Fifteen, they told me they knew. First kiss?_  
  
_Ha. Boy or girl_  
  
_Both. Please both._  
  
_Girl was my year nine teacher’s daughter. Adult supervised party, spin the bottle, public, awful, sexuality confirming_  
  
_Guy was you…_  
  
Scorpius stared at the screen of his phone, reading the three words of Albus’ last text message. _He was Albus’ first real kiss._  
  
Kind of.  
  
Scorpius closed out of his text messages and pulled up Snapchat. He swiped at Albus’ name – which had a little ‘4’ next to a fire emoji – and started typing:  
  
_Awful, but I can match._  
  
_Co-star, dark trailer, he told me if I ever said anything he’d ruin my career, and then he kissed me._  
  
_And stuff._  
  
Scorpius’ hands were shaking. Being on Snapchat only offered him a small amount of comfort; he would know if Albus screen-capped their conversation to post on the internet. He went back to his main screen on Snapchat and watched as the message bubble went from ‘delivered’ to ‘opened’. He got the notification that Albus was typing a few seconds later.  
  
_First is the worst, second is the best?_  
  
Another reply came in as Scorpius was laughing.  
  
_Sorry, I make jokes when I don’t know what else to say #honestyhour_  
  
He closed Snapchat and opened his text messages back up.  
  
_Second is definitely best. Are you working tomorrow?_  
  
His phone buzzed with a reply as he was changing.  
  
_Nope. You’re filming I’m assuming_  
  
It couldn’t actually be possible to fall for someone who didn’t punctuate his sentences and used hashtags in text messages, yet here he was.  
  
_Yeah, beach scenes. They’re taking advantage and expanding the grounds of Hogwarts._  
  
Scorpius stared at his phone for a while waiting for a reply from Albus. He poked around on Twitter for a while, scrolling through his mentions – mostly blurry set pictures from the past few days and random fans tagging the whole cast. They were on a tight schedule to get everything wrapped up over the months they were here so they could film classroom scenes and have the show on air by the fall. Shooting that day was exhausting; he and Susie spent most of their day running down the cobblestone street away from their teacher, the werewolf.  
  
He found one picture a fan took of Susie and him; it was a good candid shot, not blurred, of them chatting in between takes. The picture had twenty likes on it, so Scorpius grinned and retweeted it, adding the caption “ _when fans take better pictures than paps @susienott_ ”. He refreshed and laughed when the likes went up to two hundred.  
  
When Twitter got boring and Albus still hadn’t responded, Scorpius assumed the boy fell asleep and he should probably do the same. He put his phone away. They were filming on the beach tomorrow, which meant sunshine and sand in the extra makeup he’d have to wear if he had bags under his eyes. With thoughts of Albus falling asleep mid-text, Scorpius curled up under his duvet and closed his eyes.  
  
*  
  
Scorpius’ phone buzzed on the table next to his pullout, dragging him away from his last grasps of sleep. He rolled over with a groan, peeking one eye open. Smiling, he swiped and opened the Snapchat from Albus. It was a picture of his bedroom window, dreary and wet.  
  
_It’s raining_  
  
Sitting up, he snapped a selfie with a single judgmental eyebrow.  
  
_We’re in England._  
  
Albus’ reply came as Scorpius was unplugging his phone from the charger. Scorpius grinned at the picture of Albus’ dog sleeping at the foot of the bed, covered in messy handwritten words he couldn’t fit in the text line.  
  
_Jerk. Didn’t you say you were filming outside @ the beach_  
  
Scorpius closed out Snapchat and brought up their filming schedule. He grinned when he saw the notification at the top, and saw the notes added on about the weather delay.  
  
He had a free day.  
  
He pulled up his text messages, forgoing Snapchat to type a longer message.  
  
_You should come visit the set. You can bring Rose, too. I can send a car so you guys don’t have to walk. You don’t work today, right?_  
  
While he waited for Albus’ reply, he got out of bed and started his workout. Even if he wasn’t going to be on camera that day, he skipped the day before and needed to catch up. There weren’t any shirtless scenes scheduled so far, but he had to be ready in case that changed.  
  
Which it probably would.  
  
Counting sit-ups made Scorpius hate sit-ups even more, so he let his mind wander as he pushed himself through his workout.  
  
Naturally, his mind wandered to Albus.  
  
He bit back a smile as he remembered their date. Kissing Albus was _fun_ , and he felt like Albus made it easy and pressure free. It was so unlike his experience with Louie, where he was so worried about messing something up and scaring the boy off that he always second guessed himself.  
  
He thought about the things he told Albus the previous night. He didn’t even remember how the questions started, and telling Albus about Louie had not been in his initial plan. But, Albus hadn’t copied anything, and he didn’t make Scorpius feel bad for anything that happened.  
  
Through the short breaths he was pushing out for each sit-up, he smiled.  
  
He rolled over to start on pushups, starting on his right arm so he could check his phone with his left. He had two text messages, one from Albus and one from Susie. Scorpius picked the bad news first.  
  
Susie wrote:  
  
_Whenever you’d like to admit I was right about this summer, I’ll be in the trailer next to yours_  
  
There were several heart emojis and a nail polish one after her message that made Scorpius roll his eyes. Ignoring her, he switched pushup hands and opened Albus’.  
  
_That’d be awesome, I’ve never seen Diagon Alley before!_  
  
Scorpius rolled his eyes and switched back to Snapchat. Adrenaline pumping, he stood and took a picture of himself, raised eyebrow and torso included. Before he lost his nerve, he typed a reply to Albus and sent the picture.  
  
_I think there are some parts you missed._  
  
He thought the message might be a bit forward, but after their Netflix date and the talk he and Albus had, Scorpius decided that forward was exactly what he wanted with the dark haired boy.  
  
Scorpius set his phone on the floor and did some stretches as he watched the screen. The Snapchat arrow went from filled in to hollow, and a few moments after change into a square, telling him Albus had replied.  
  
It was a picture of Albus’ face, half covered by his hand and looking hilariously disgruntled.  
  
_Show off_  
  
Scorpius laughed. He wished he could screen-cap the picture without Albus knowing; the boy’s messy black hair made Scorpius want to run his fingers through it and set the picture as his wallpaper. With a few quick clicks on his phone, Scorpius made a call to request a car for Albus and Rose, and texted Albus with the details.  
  
He was half way through his bicep curls when Susie opened the door to his trailer. She was already dressed in street clothes, and her hair was pulled into a plait on the side of her head.  
  
“Since you didn’t feel the need to tell me you were going on a _date_ with Albus, will you at least tell me before you two get Facebook-married?”  
  
Scorpius rolled his eyes at her. “I don’t have a Facebook; those are all fan-made pages.” He laughed when she made a face at him. “It was nice. I met his mum.”  
  
Susie raised an eyebrow at him. “I thought we weren’t going to get attached; we were just going to have fun and forget about Louie.”  
  
He blushed. He didn’t want to tell her all of the details, so instead he shrugged and said, “She was just there; it wasn’t like he planned it.”  
  
To avoid her judgement, Scorpius put his weights away and took a shower.  
  
As he stood under the pitiful spray of his trailer shower, he thought about what Susie said. He thought about the implications of meeting Albus’ mother, and the feeling in his chest when Albus climbed on top of him in his bed.  
  
_It was different than Louie._ Everything felt different this time. Louie was quick and harsh and discreet, while Albus as hesitant, funny and caring. It was hard to listen to Susie when everything he always wanted was right in front of him.  
  
He shut off his shower – already cold – and toweled himself off. After getting dressed, he ran his fingers through his damp hair and called himself good. He didn’t want to wear his hair perfectly tousled like Basil around Albus all the time, afraid that he would get Albus’ hopes up about his looks.  
  
“Their car is pulling up,” Susie said as he walked out of his bathroom. She was looking down at her phone and typing a reply.  
  
“Have you and Rose talked about anything?” Scorpius asked her, crossing the trailer to grab his cell phone. He had two texts from Albus, one saying they were on their way and one saying they just crossed through security.  
  
Susie looked up from her phone. “…Meaning?”  
  
“About what you two are doing together,” Scorpius said as he texted Albus that they were on their way to meet him and Rose.  
  
Susie snorted. “No. We’re just having fun; things don’t always have to have labels on them.”  
  
“I know, but did you talk to Rose about that?” Scorpius asked.  
  
“I will, after I see how today goes,” Susie said, rolling her eyes. “You’re thinking too much about this. Have you and Albus talked about that? Did you snog him yet?”  
  
Scorpius stared at her for only half of a second, but that was all it took for Susie to see right through him.  
  
“You did, didn’t you! Who started it? Was it amazing?” Susie’s grin was infectious, and Scorpius gave her a small smile.  
  
“They’re waiting,” Scorpius said weakly.  
  
Susie narrowed her eyes. “You owe me.”  
  
The rain was still pounding down on the cobblestone outside of Scorpius’ trailer, so he and Susie ran towards the parking area where they knew Albus and Rose would be waiting.  
  
Scorpius felt his heart race when he saw Albus. It had only been a few days since he kissed the boy goodnight in his front lawn, and they’d Snapchatted every day, but seeing him standing huddled under Rose’s umbrella made his stomach flutter.  
  
“Hey guys!” Susie said as she approached the two locals. Before Scorpius realized what she was doing, Susie was under the umbrella and pressing her lips just next to Rose’s mouth. Albus hastily side-stepped into the rain and away as Susie turned to smirk at Scorpius.  
  
Nixie was a Gryffindor on Hogwarts, but if Scorpius had to sort Susie, she’d definitely be a cunning Slytherin. Scorpius wasn’t going to rise to her bait. He turned to Albus, who was scuffing his shoe on the ground. When Albus realized Scorpius was staring, he grinned.  
  
“I’m a _huge_ PDA fan myself, so that’s just something you’re going to have to deal with,” Albus said.  
  
Scorpius shook his head, remembering Albus’ horror story about spin the bottle. He nudged his shoulder against Albus’.  
  
Susie and Rose were already walking off under the umbrella with their arms linked together, and without an umbrella of their own, Albus and Scorpius’ were getting damper by the second.  
  
“We should go back to my trailer, I’ll show you around when this stops,” Scorpius said, rubbing raindrops out of his eyes. He gestured to Albus to follow him, and the two jogged back to the trailers.  
  
By the time they got into Scorpius’ trailer and had the door shut behind them, Scorpius’ shirt was drenched all the way through.  
  
“Too bad we can’t just use that drying spell from _Hogwarts_ ,” Albus joked, pulling the damp fabric away from his chest.  
  
Scorpius laughed, remembering the exact scene Albus was referring to. “You’re already on season two?”  
  
Albus shrugged. “Any show with fantasy elements and vaguely gay themes can catch my attention pretty quickly. I don’t know what I’m going to do when I have to wait for season three.” He was grinning as he pulled the wet fabric away from his chest. “Think I could snag a shirt off you?”  
  
He knew he wasn’t quick with words when they weren’t on a script in front of him, but Scorpius knew how to flirt. He grabbed the bottom of the dripping fabric on his torso and tugged it over his head. Albus’ mouth was open and he was staring, so Scorpius turned and said, “I’ll grab you one.” He heard Albus muttering about dying an early death as he rifled through his clothes for something Albus could wear. After pulling a new, dry t-shirt over his own head, he grabbed one for Albus and tossed it to him.  
  
Albus stared at the fabric, holding it in his hands like it was going to bite him. “This is Armani… this shirt is probably like a thousand dollars, isn’t it?”  
  
Scorpius rolled his eyes. “It’s not a thousand dollars. I actually don’t know how much it costed, I got it for free at a photo shoot.”  
  
Albus rolled his eyes right back. “Freaking celebrities.”  
  
“You sound like Rose,” Scorpius commented, grinning. He watched as Albus tugged at the bottom of his shirt again. Scorpius coughed, feeling suddenly embarrassed that he was staring at Albus, and crossed his trailer to sit on his couch. He fidgeted with his phone while Albus tugged the wet fabric over his head. While the new, dry shirt was covering Albus’ face, Scorpius glanced up for only a second. He only caught a small sight of dark hair below Albus’ belly button before he focused completely on his blank phone screen.  
  
When he was sure Albus had the shirt completely on, Scorpius looked up at him again. Albus was grinning and Scorpius knew he was probably caught. The shirt was a bit big on him, but Albus always tended to wear shirts that were a size bigger than he probably could get away with.  
  
“Did your parents give you any trouble this time?” Scorpius asked in hopes of changing the subject.  
  
Albus laughed. “My mum was already at work at my dad was asleep from his night shift, so I just texted them. They’re usually not bad unless I’m to be gone after dark.” Albus crossed his trailer and dropped onto the couch next to him.  
  
Scorpius fidgeted with his phone. “Do you want to watch Netflix?” He felt awkward. He really should have come up with a better plan _before_ inviting Albus over. Thunder sounded outside, and Scorpius knew that a set tour was not in their future.  
  
Albus turned towards him so he could rest his head against the back of the couch. “Is this… are you okay with hanging out in here?” Albus looked down for a moment. “That was kind of a deep talk to have over Snapchat yesterday.”  
  
Scorpius felt his cheeks heat.  
  
He didn’t regret telling Albus. Even though he only met the boy a week ago, he knew Albus was a good person and wouldn’t stab him in the back. The only other person Scorpius ever told about what happened between him and Louie was Susie. It felt like a weight was lifted off of his chest when he sent the words to Albus and watched them disappear over Snapchat.  
  
“I’m—this—I’m okay,” Scorpius said quietly. He looked to Albus and smiled. “Thank you, for asking.”  
  
Albus smiled and nodded. “So, Netflix?”  
  
Scorpius laughed out loud. He pointed, and Albus reached for the remote. He watched as Albus navigated through the screens on his little portable television until Netflix came up. Albus searched and pulled up the same werewolf show they were watching on their first date. Scorpius sat back into the couch and Albus did the same.  
  
As the young adults playing teenagers ran around on the tiny screen in front of them, Scorpius still felt the tension from their talk. He felt like he left too much and not enough space between he and Albus, and he felt like reaching across to hold Albus’ hand wouldn’t go well.  
  
He could totally do it. If Basil could save his school against awful CGI werewolves, then Scorpius could hold Albus Potter’s hand. As casually as he could, he slid his hand off of his knee and onto the couch.  
  
And, Albus moved his hand away to dig his phone out. Scorpius held back a sigh; he was so boring that Albus wanted to be on his phone instead of hanging out.  
  
Basil would be ashamed.  
  
He fidgeted with a string on his trousers as Albus typed on his phone. He probably just scared Albus off with all of his personal drama, and Albus figured he wasn’t worth the spectacle.  
  
Scorpius jumped when his phone buzzed on the armrest next to him. His eyebrows furrowed as he looked down and saw Albus’ name. Out of the corner of his eye he could see that Albus was watching the telly and acting nonchalant. Scorpius picked up his phone and opened the message.  
  
_Werewolf or vampire_  
  
Scorpius laughed and looked to Albus to see him biting his lip and silently chuckling.  
  
Albus turned his whole body to face him. “You gotta go with werewolf though! Who wants to have to live off of blood? I mean, yeah, you get to live forever, but at what cost? You just gotta—”  
  
Scorpius didn’t hear what he just gotta do, because he cut Albus’ rambling off with a kiss. He grinned at the surprised noise Albus let out, and pulled back just as Albus changed the course of his mouth.  
  
“It depends on the werewolf lore though.” Scorpius looked up towards the ceiling of his trailer, pretending to think. “Because if they’re like these werewolves then I pick werewolf, but—”  
  
Albus interrupted him right back.  
  
Somewhere in the back of his head Scorpius recognized the whole scene in front of him. He couldn’t hear the rain anymore but it was still dreary and dark out, setting an overcast on his trailer. The lights were on and when he opened his eyes he could see splotches of color filling Albus’ cheeks.  
  
He felt Albus hand on his knee as the boy pushed closer, so Scorpius leaned forward and tugged on the borrowed shirt. He heard a tiny noise from the back of Albus’ throat as Scorpius dragged his fingers along the small patch of skin where his shirt rose up.   
  
The sound of his trailer door had him tugging away from Albus just before the handle turned. Scorpius knew his eyes were wide and his expression was guilty as Susie and Rose climbed the metal stairs into his trailer.  
  
“Ooh, what did we miss?” Susie said as she shut the door behind her. Scorpius noticed Susie’s hair was down now, and Rose’s cheeks were pink and clashing with her hair.  
  
“Could ask the same of you,” Scorpius said, standing and pretending to adjust his shirt. “What are you two doing here?”  
  
“How long have you two been at it? JC’s just texted, since the rain stopped he’s rescheduled this morning’s scenes for this afternoon, and this afternoon for tonight.” Susie grimaced, and Scorpius mimicked her expression. The beach meant Basil and Nixie’s first kiss.  
  
He turned to Albus and gave him an apologetic smile. What he wouldn’t give to just quit the show right this second. He could fire off a text in less than a minute and just spend the entire day kissing Albus instead of having to pretend to enjoy kissing Susie.  
  
“We should go anyway,” Rose said. It was actually the first thing she said since they walked in, and her voice was small. Scorpius instantly felt for the girl and wondered if Susie actually took his words to heart.  
  
Dragging his feet metaphorically and literally, Scorpius gathered his things so he could head with Susie towards makeup. He was already dreading how muggy and hot it would be in his Hogwarts uniform and full makeup on the beach.  
  
They walked Rose and Albus towards the lift cars before they met up with the crew. Scorpius wanted to pull Albus aside and say their goodbyes, but Albus had zeroed in on Rose’s sad demeanor, and Scorpius knew it was a lost cause.  
  
Scorpius watched as Susie hardly waved at Rose before heading off towards the crew cars. He could feel himself grow irritated at her as he saw a tear fall down Rose’s cheek. He caught Albus’ glance.  
  
“I—”  
  
Albus held up a finger. “It’s not your fault.” He stepped forward, and Scorpius closed his eyes and leaned into Albus’ hand as it touched his cheek. Albus was close, and Scorpius thought for one wild moment that the boy was going to kiss him out in the open. Instead, Albus muttered, “text me when you’re done?”  
  
Scorpius opened his eyes. He wanted to tell Albus that he would try to talk some sense into Susie, and that he wanted another date. Instead, he just nodded. Albus dropped his hand, and with a small, sad wave, hopped into the car after Rose. 


	8. Episode 8: (99) Twitter

Albus jolted awake when his phone buzzed underneath him. He fell asleep the previous night waiting for a reply from Scorpius about what happened with Rose and Susie. Scorpius promised Albus he would talk to the actress when Albus found out – according to Rose – that she and Susie shagged and Susie said there was nothing between them after.  
  
However, at two in the morning when Albus got a quick: _still filming, sorry_ , he finally passed out.  
  
Now, Albus scrambled, ignoring Padfoot groaning at him from the foot of the bed. His phone was buzzing like he was getting a phone call and for a moment he panicked; it wouldn’t be the first time Bev or Rose had to call and wake him up to get to his shift.  
  
When he finally found his phone wrapped in his duvet, he stared at the screen when he realized it wasn’t a phone call, but Twitter notifications.  
  
A _lot_ of Twitter notifications.  
  
Albus didn’t check his Twitter very often. He never got notifications and knew exactly how many followers he had, because when the number was that low, you just remembered it.  
  
The number was quadruple.  
  
He rubbed frantically at his eyes, trying to blink away the last bit of sleep as he scrolled through his notifications.  
  
The same picture dominated the mentions of him; it was a shot that looked like someone took it through an open window – it was a picture of Scorpius resting his cheek in Albus’ hand. Everywhere, there were Tweets from news articles talking about Scorpius Malfoy coming out, and about the random local from Uppingham, Albus Potter.  
  
His hands were shaking. Albus clicked on a random link that read: _Scorpius Malfoy spotted moving on from Louie Lestrange! But with WHO!?  
  
_ The picture had a watermark over it; some random paparazzi sold this moment between him and Scorpius and probably made thousands for doing so.  
  
Scrolling through the article, Albus read all about how _Hogwarts_ fans suspected Scorpius’ sexuality because of his alleged closeness with co-star Louie Lestrange. He clicked a link within the article that took him to a story about a meet and greet from a few years prior. Apparently it was an ‘internet famous’ moment because the tension fans caused between Louie and Scorpius got to be so bad, that Louie publically asked to be seated away from Scorpius because, the article quoted, Louie, “couldn’t deal with ‘Lourpious’ Tweets that night.” There were pictures through the article about how sad and surprised Scorpius looked, that it confirmed Scorpius and Louie’s relationship.  
  
Albus couldn’t help but think about their chat on Snapchat the other night, and what the fans would do if they knew the truth.  
  
He hit the back button on his phone and continued reading the article. It said that a ‘source’ tipped off the writer about who Albus was. The boy, Mark, said he was a friend of Albus’ at school and a fan of the show.  
  
Albus had no idea who he was.  
  
He felt like his world was collapsing around him. This couldn’t actually be possible. He knew Scorpius wanted to come out to the public, but he was also very aware that Scorpius wouldn’t have planned to come out like this. He definitely wouldn’t like how the article went on to speculate that Louie quit the show because of Scorpius.  
  
A knock on his bedroom door made him drop his phone in surprise. He called out a reply and watched as his door slowly opened.  
  
“Oh good, you’re up,” his dad said as he stepped into Albus’ room. “Your mother and I will be waiting for you downstairs. Bring your cell phone.”  
  
Albus threw off his duvet and stood. “You can’t seriously be punishing me for this! I didn’t do this! I didn’t give the paparazzi my name, someone else did!”  
  
“And you didn’t exactly ask to go spend the day in some boy’s trailer unsupervised,” his dad replied. “Downstairs, two minutes.” With that, his dad shut his bedroom door.  
  
As quickly as he could, Albus threw on clothes and stormed after his father.  
  
“Since when have I needed _permission_ to hang out with someone before dark?” Albus asked his parents in lieu of a greeting. He rolled his eyes when his mother raised an eyebrow at him.  
  
“Seriously, you’ve never batted an eye when I say I’m going to hang out with Rose or Jordan. This is ridiculous! Not to mention the fact that you let James do whatever the hell he bloody wants, without a curfew. Don’t you think I’m being punished enough having my name thrown around the internet? You just have to make it worse by taking my phone away? Well that’s just great! At least now I won’t get the message when Scorpius calls and dumps me because he’s just going to assume I gave them all the information. This is so unfair!”  
  
He watched as his parents shared a look and he rolled his eyes at them. His father set his tea down.  
  
“First of all,” his mother said, “Rose is family and we know her, and James is older than you and out of school.”  
  
“What about Jordan? I used to go over there like every day after school, and you knew his parents worked second shift,” Albus retorted.  
  
“Albus,” she said, “In light of what happened we’ve been talking, and we think it’s best for your safety if your visits with Scorpius are supervised.”  
  
Albus balked. “ _What_? You don’t even make Lily have supervised visits!”  
  
“Lily never leaves her room, and when she does it’s just for nourishment,” his mum replied.  
  
“Yeah, but you don’t _supervise_ what she does on that computer!” Albus argued.  
  
“ _I can hear you, I do live here!”_ Lily called from her room. Albus heard her bedroom door slam and wished he could do the same.  
  
Albus turned back to his parents. “Why are you doing this to me? I actually find someone I like in this shitty small town who’s gay and actually _likes me back_ , and now you’re not going to let me see him?”  
  
“Language, Albus.”  
  
Albus rolled his eyes.  
  
“We’re not saying you can’t see Scorpius,” his dad finally said. “We’re concerned that your name being out there is going to put you in danger. I’ve been on duty down on Diagon Alley and the paparazzi are aggressive and don’t care about the safety of minors. All they care about is making money. Until whatever this is dies down, we think it’s best if you and Scorpius are here when you’re together.”  
  
He knew what his father was saying made sense, but he was still angry. “So why did I need to bring my phone? Are you confiscating that because you think I’m lying?”  
  
“Albus, stop being so dramatic,” his mother said. “Your father wants to run a security program on your phone to make sure no one can hack any of the family’s personal information from your social media. You can have it back when he’s done.”  
  
His dad had his hand held out, so Albus tossed the phone towards his dad, frowning when his dad still caught it.  
  
“Can I at least go to Rose’s while I’m waiting, or is that forbidden now too?”  
  
After bickering with his parents for a while longer, Albus left his house and walked down the street towards Rose’s. He let himself into his aunt and uncle’s house, calling out a greeting as he walked in.  
  
“Rose?” he called; “Hugo? Anyone home?”  
  
His uncle Ron poked his head out of their kitchen.  
  
“Hey, there’s my favorite nephew!”  
  
Albus rolled his eyes. Ron made that joke to every single one of his nieces and nephews.  
  
“Hey, Ron. Is Rose home?” Albus asked.  
  
Ron nodded. “She’s downstairs in her room, I think she’s still sleeping.”  
  
After thanking his uncle, Albus ran down the stairs towards Rose’s bedroom. When the two of them hung out it was usually in Rose’s room so Hugo wouldn’t eavesdrop on them.  
  
Albus noticed the Nixie poster wasn’t hanging in its normal spot.  
  
“Hey, Rose,” Albus said softly.  
  
Rose made an intangible noise from under the blanket. Albus crossed the room and sat on the edge of her bed.  
  
“Rosie,” Albus said, poking where he thought her stomach was. Sure enough she let out a squeak of surprise. “Tell me what happened.”  
  
“I already told you,” Rose said as she threw her blanket off. Her eyes were red and her cheeks were pink from rubbing at them. “We shagged, and then she told me nothing was going to happen when they left for London in a few months.”  
  
Albus bit his lip. “Did you guys talk about anything like that before?”  
  
Rose sighed. “No, we didn’t. And it’s not like I thought we’d be together forever and get married, it wasn’t like that. I just thought—” Her eyes filled with wetness. “Whatever, it doesn’t matter. She doesn’t want anything to do with me.”  
  
She started to cry again, so Albus laid down next to her and wrapped her up in his arms. It reminded him of when they were kids and would have sleepovers in this same room. Rose cried for a few minutes, until she seemed to tire herself out. In a small, sad tone she said, “At least it worked out for you and Scorpius.”  
  
Albus couldn’t help but let out a bitter laugh. “Well, if he’s even texted me, he’s probably assumed by now that I’m ignoring him because Dad took away my phone after he found out.”  
  
Rose sat up at that. “So you haven’t been online?”  
  
Albus shook his head. “For like… two minutes this morning, before my parents decided they were finally going to be strict with one of their children. Guess which one?” he deadpanned.  
  
Rose ignored his sarcasm, and reached for her phone on the bedside table. She swiped away a text message from Susie – which surprised Albus – and opened up Twitter. With a few quick clicks she pulled up Scorpius’ Twitter. Pinned at the top was a Retweeted Buzzfeed article titled, ‘ _Hogwarts’ Star Scorpius Malfoy Tells All!’  
  
_ Scorpius didn’t make a comment in the Retweet, instead he just added one heart emoji for every color of the rainbow.  
  
Albus smiled.  
  
*  
  
“I ran three security programs recommended to me by people down at the station. Don’t delete them off of your phone,” his dad said as he held out Albus’ phone.  
  
Albus rolled his eyes. “Whatever, thanks Dad.”  
  
He turned on his screen and saw his phone was filled with notifications. He felt a small bit of relief that his dad didn’t go through them. He saw the security apps on his home screen, but he ignored them as he realized he had _six_ text messages from Scorpius. He nearly tripped on the stairs and dropped his phone as he raced to his room and shut his bedroom door.  
  
 _I just woke up to my Executive Producer yelling at my trailer door. I’m so sorry.  
  
_ _Do you know the kid that gave out your name? The article says he’s your ‘close friend’.  
  
_ _I did an interview with Buzzfeed and I think I just actually officially Came Out on Twitter.  
  
_ _My hands won’t stop shaking.  
  
_ _I hope you’re still asleep and this hasn’t scared you off to the point you’re ignoring my messages.  
  
_ _Okay, it’s half past two so either you’re asleep like the dead or… I guess let me know if you want to talk about this at all.  
  
_ Albus didn’t think there was ever a moment in his life where he texted so fast.  
  
 _MY DAD TOOK MY PHONE AWAY OMG I’M SO SORRY  
  
_ _Why did he yell at you ??  
  
_ _idk the kid but I’m gonna murder him when school starts back up  
  
_ _I saw your tweet I went over to Roses. I definitely want to talk... if you do ?  
  
_ He let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding when his phone lit up with a reply from Scorpius.  
  
 _Why did your dad take away your phone?  
  
_ Albus shot off a reply as quick as he could.   
  
 _Idk, security? He’s worried my identity is going to get stolen or something. You talked to buzzfeed? Man thats so cool  
  
_ There was a bubble on their conversation that said Scorpius was typing for quite a while before Albus received a big block of text.  
  
 _(I’m a secret Buzzfeed addict.) A lot of those articles were posting stories about the picture (which omg, I’m so sorry. I don’t think I’ll ever forgive myself.) so, I had JC get in contact with someone from Buzzfeed and offer them an interview. Of course they accepted right away, and they asked questions about the picture and you and Louie. I told them I wouldn’t talk about anyone but myself and so they just asked what it was like coming out in the spotlight and for advice. Idk if you read the interview?  
  
_ _Albus, I’m so sorry. I really wish this wasn’t happening, but this is just how my life goes. Even in this random town with this amazing boy I can never be out of the spotlight, as much as I wish I could. I wish I wasn’t doing this over a text message, but I really want to give you some space to think about if you really want to do… this._  
  
Albus read Scorpius’ message twice before hitting the call button at the top of the screen. He tapped his fingers on his knee as he listened to the ringing, thinking Scorpius probably wouldn’t pick up. Just when he thought the call was going to go to voicemail, Scorpius answered with a quiet greeting.  
  
“I don’t want space,” Albus blurted.  
  
He heard Scorpius laugh softly. “Good, because it broke my heart a bit to have to type that.”  
  
Albus laughed. “I’m glad we settled that.”  
  
They were quiet for a moment before Scorpius said, “You went over to Rose’s?”  
  
“Yeah,” Albus said. “She’s still really upset.”  
  
“I’m going to talk to Susie while we’re filming tonight. She’s being stupid,” Scorpius replied. “She really likes Rose; I don’t know why she’s doing this… why she always does this.”  
  
Albus bit his lip. “She’s got a point. How would they work out long term?” Scorpius was quiet, so Albus added, “Sorry, one step at a time.”  
  
Scorpius chuckled again.  
  
“So, you had a big day today,” Albus said in hopes of changing the subject. When Scorpius sighed, Albus wished he could see the face Scorpius was making. “Congratulations on coming out,” he added.  
  
“Thanks,” Scorpius said. “I still kind of can’t believe it happened. I’m sitting in my trailer waiting for someone to come in and say this is just a dream.”  
  
“I’m proud of you,” Albus said.  
  
He heard knocking coming from Scorpius’ end, and listened as Scorpius answered the door. He heard Scorpius say he’d be out in a minute.  
  
“I have to go,” Scorpius said. “They want us in makeup early.” Albus could hear disappointment in his voice.  
  
“It’s okay,” Albus said. “Text me later?”  
  
“Yeah.” Albus could hear the smile in Scorpius voice. “I’ll talk to Susie tonight, I promise.”  
  
“Cool,” Albus said. “Now go, be a big famous television star! I’ll be here doing nothing all day because I’m boring as hell and I don’t even know why you like me, oh my god.”  
  
Scorpius laughed again, and after goodbyes, they both hung up.  
  
Albus dropped his phone next to him and plopped onto his pillow. He couldn’t help but grin and laugh a bit. Scorpius was okay, he was out, and he actually wanted to keep seeing Albus.  
  
They were okay.


	9. Episode 9: Boom-box Style Romance

Scorpius looked up towards the moon and the camera panned with him. It was almost full; he was sure it would be edited to be big and bright in the final picture. He walked from one point to another marked in the sand, until he stopped in front of the object half buried in front of him.

“Nixie, over here!” He called out. He looked up as Susie ran over from near the water and bent down to pick up the object.

“Wait!” he said, grabbing her wrist. Susie looked up to him at the touch, where he had to act like he was just realizing how pretty she was. He stared for a moment, shook his head, and said, “Don’t touch it, what if it’s cursed?”

Susie was still staring at the spot where his hand was on her wrist, and on the director’s cue, she looked up and pulled her hand away, grinning. “Relax, Basil, I’ll be fine.” She smirked at him until Scorpius gave her a small private smile, one that conveyed that Basil was in love with Nixie. She wiped away some of the sand from the item, and Scorpius raised his eyebrows, pretending that the thing in the sand was lighting up.

“CUT! Reset, ten-minute recess!” JC called from behind the camera. Susie opened her mouth to talk, but Scorpius cut her off with a finger.

“Don’t give me that,” he said to Susie, continuing the conversation he promised Albus he would have with her. “Just tell me why you always push away every person who you actually like, and this conversation can be over.”

As a makeup person put powder all over Susie’s face to combat the humidity, Susie said, “Name one time I’ve ever done that.”

“Rose.” Scorpius held up his hand and started to count. “Chad. Lindsey – ”

“It was totally mutual with Lindsey,” Susie argued. “And Chad was a prat.”

“Why did you push Rose away?” Scorpius asked. “I know you like her.”

Susie rolled her eyes. “We live different lives, Scorpius; in a few weeks we’re going to be going back to London and we’ll never see these people again. I told you from the start that I didn’t want anything serious. I told you we should have fun. Just because you fancy the boy you were supposed to have fun with doesn’t mean that you have to get mad at me for not wanting the same thing.”

Scorpius tried to ignore the feeling in the pit of his stomach, knowing that in a few weeks time he and Albus wouldn’t be in the same town and probably wouldn’t ever speak again.

“Susie,” Scorpius said, voice low. The makeup crew was off towards the pier touching up Lindsey’s makeup for Aura’s big scene.  “Rose said you waited until after you slept with her to tell her any of that.”

He could tell Susie felt embarrassed hearing her actions thrown back at her, but she held her head up. “And I suppose you’ve talked to Albus about exactly what’s going to happen in a month from now?”

He couldn’t bring himself to tell her how badly he wanted to keep in touch with Albus after. He couldn’t just tell her he was already falling in love with the first boy he talked to after Louie and wanted to quit the show and stay in Uppingham with him forever.

“Look,” Susie said, “I’ll apologize to Rose.” She looked to the ground. “It was shitty of me. I’ll call her tonight and see if she wants to meet us down here. Now that you and Albus hit mainstream it’s not like you have to hide; he could come too.”

Scorpius nodded; at least she was trying. They both pulled out their phones and shot off text messages. They watched on the sidelines as sequences got filmed with their werewolf teacher transforming into an unstoppable villain. Lindsey filmed the moments where Aura snuck around rocks and along the shore behind Basil and Nixie; she followed them towards the shore to spy on them and will eventually save their lives, and reunite  _ Naura _ .

They had a meeting after Scorpius’ public coming out. JC, Scorpius, and the writing team all agreed that pushing a Bixie storyline after his little moment of fame – as JC called it – probably wouldn’t sell to the fans as well as they would have hoped before. Instead they decided to go with the original idea of teasing the fans and breaking Nixie and Aura up, but Aura would get a bigger character arc as she’d get to save the two main characters from Professor Aconitum. Basil wouldn’t get a romance arc this season, as he’d be so preoccupied figuring out why Puck – Basil’s nemesis from Slytherin – was being an even bigger prat than normal.

Scorpius was excited for the new plot. Depending on how things panned out and fans’ reaction to them, he and Darius Zabini would get a romance in season four. Darius was always fun to work with because they got to pretend to hate each other. He knew the show was nervous to run with two main characters who weren’t heterosexual, but the fans’ response to Naura was something they never expected, and if they got a green light for season four, they’d be able to take risks.

Plus,  _ Pasil _ supporters were few and far between, and weren’t crazy like  _ Balfie _ ones.

His phone buzzed in his trouser pocket, so he dug through the lavish school uniform to grab it. It was a text from Albus, so Scorpius turned away from everyone to open it.

_ I can’t… I should have told you this on the phone, but my parents kind of grounded me after my name got published, ugh this is so embarrassing but I can’t hang out with you unless its at my house _

Scorpius couldn’t help but smile. He knew the text was torture for Albus to send. He wondered what it would be like if his parents grounded him for having tabloid stories written about him.

His phone buzzed again.

_ I don’t get what they think is going to happen, do people really care that much about who youre dating _

Another text.

_ Not that we’re ‘dating’!!! but do people actually concern themselves that much about you _

Scorpius typed back, hiding his smile as the director yelled at him to get into place.

_ Unfortunately. I’ll call you tonight if you’re awake? _

Filming in the summer meant the sun went down later, meaning they started later if they were doing night scenes. Scorpius was happy with the work he put out that day, and he was especially proud of all of the feelings that Susie and Lindsey put into Nixie and Aura’s reunion moment. He chatted with the actor playing Professor Aconitum for a while, discussing acting tips and their scenes together; the man was a lot more famous than their dinky little show, and Scorpius wanted to learn as much as he could from the professional.

He didn’t get a chance to read Albus’ reply until well after one in the morning.

_ I’ll be awake. Night owl here :P _

“Oi, let’s chat before we let you go for the night,” JC called to the staff.

Scorpius stood next to Lindsey and congratulated her on how great she and Susie did that night. Lindsey grinned at him and pushed the fake hair from her pink wig out of her eyes. Her character was what the show called a metamorphmagus; she could change her physical appearance at will.

“Right then,” JC started. “With the change in direction this season, we’re adding in a few scenes in the school with Zabini, and in the Ravenclaw common room.” He nodded towards Lindsey; Aura was in Ravenclaw, the studious witty house, on  _ Hogwarts _ .

“Meaning,” he continued, “we’re wrapping up this location early. With a few scheduled shifts and one more overnight shoot, we’ll be back filming at Pinewood Studios next Monday. We’ll wrap here on Thursday night and travel arrangements will be set up for that weekend. You’re free for the night.”

There was an immediate buzz of conversation, but Scorpius didn’t join any of it. Some people celebrated with cheers, some people talked about how they’d miss the beach and they weren’t tan enough. He saw Susie and Lindsey chatting happily about how much they missed their favorite takeout places.

Scorpius felt like he was drowning. Shaking his head, he marched over to where JC and Scottie were chatting.

JC held a finger up before Scorpius could talk. “It’s non-negotiable. It’s not because of your news, and we’re not punishing you for it. The writers were already in talks of changing their plans before you ‘talked’ with  _ Buzzfeed _ . I thought you’d be thrilled; you weren’t all that excited to leave London for the summer a few weeks ago.”

_ Talked with Buzzfeed _ was JC’s way of addressing Scorpius blowing his life up and coming out to the entire world.

“I—” Scorpius clenched his jaw. “What time are we filming tomorrow?”

“0900,” JC said. Scorpius wished he could quit right here just to wipe the smugness off of his boss’ face. “Might push it up if the weather actually cooperates.”

Scorpius nodded and walked away. He ignored whatever Scottie called to him and walked over to Susie and Lindsey.

“Rose can’t meet up tonight,” Susie told him. We’re going to take a car back, split a bottle of wine and gossip in Lindsey’s trailer. You in?”

As Scorpius mentally formed plans of his own, he shook his head at the girls. “I’m going to catch a ride back in a bit. I want to go over a few scenes from tonight.”

Susie shrugged, believing his story.

Scorpius dinked around the set for a while with some of the crew, pretending to be interested in reviewing the scenes he filmed that night. He talked to some of them about getting back to London and made plans he had no intentions of keeping to go out on the town and celebrate.

When he knew that Susie and Lindsey were gone back to Diagon Alley, Scorpius found an empty car and gave the driver directions to Albus’ house. He tapped his fingers on his knee as they drove the short distance from the beach to the Potter residence. Feeling nervous, he texted Albus saying he was finally done filming. Albus sent him back a smiley face emoji.    
  
The house was dark as Scorpius got out of the car and thanked the driver. He counted the windows and walked up to the tree the Potters had in their front yard. It really was too convenient, and as he made quick work of the branches – for which he’d thank his personal trainer later – he wondered if Albus ever snuck out of them himself.    
  
He crept across the small roof as quickly and as quietly as he could towards Albus’ window. When he got in front of it the curtains were drawn, so knelt down and tapped the glass a few times. He pulled out his phone and saw that it was a bit after two in the morning.    
  
It was a quiet night, so when he heard whimpering, his stomach filled with dread.    
  
Padfoot.

Scorpius scrambled to stand as quickly as he could before the Potter’s dog – who always slept in Albus’ room – barked because he’d assume they were being robbed. He froze when the window opened and a head of black hair peeked out the window.

“Scorpius?”

“Err,” Scorpius stopped and turned to Albus. “Hey, Albus.”

Albus’ eyes were wide and comical. “What are you doing here?” The boy cringed. “Sorry, hi, you should come in because you’re standing on my roof.” Albus backed up and into his bedroom, and with a few whispers and shuffling, Scorpius followed him. Padfoot was waiting excitedly at the window, so Scorpius petted him as Albus turned on a small lamp beside his bed. The lamp lit the room just enough that Scorpius could see Albus. Albus crossed the room and stood in front of him.

“You’re in my room,” Albus whispered, planting a kiss right onto Scorpius’ lips. “Oh my god, you climbed my tree, so romantic,” Albus said between kisses. “Freaking boom-box style romantic.”

“I—wanted to see you.” Scorpius felt like an idiot until Albus’ expression softened. Albus stepped forward and kissed him. Scorpius felt himself instantly relaxing as Albus’ hand rested against the side of his face. Kissing Albus always felt like the first time and the hundredth time all mixed together.

After a few moments, Scorpius pulled back. “I’m sorry I got you grounded because of me,” he whispered.

Albus chuckled quietly, waving a dismissive hand. “They’ll forget about it in a week or so and I’ll be free again.”

Scorpius’ stomach twisted.

“What’s wrong?” Albus asked. “Oh, wait, do you want to wash up? You have—” Albus’ words trailed off as he wiped sand off Scorpius’ makeup caked cheeks. Scorpius needed to tell Albus about the time change but he also felt disgusting from filming on the beach, so he chose the latter.

He tip-toed towards Albus’ bathroom, using the light from Albus’ room to guide him. As he washed his face he could hear Albus’ brother snoring in the next room over.

When he finished, he walked back into Albus’ room to see Albus sitting against the headboard of his bed. He was wearing a pair of soft looking sports shorts, and a faded shirt. Reminiscent of their first date, Albus patted the bed next to him.

“I finished the finale of season two,” Albus said as Scorpius crossed the room. He sat against the adjacent wall and smiled when Albus tangled their legs together.

Scorpius chuckled quietly. “What did you think?” Albus cringed, managing to hold his laughter back for only a few seconds. Scorpius followed him.

“It’s good, it is,” Albus said in defense. “It’s just weird to watch, knowing you. I like you better than Basil.”

Scorpius felt himself blushing, and twisted his hands into his lap. To avoid saying something he felt would definitely scare Albus off, he instead said, “we got some news on set tonight.” He looked up to Albus, who furrowed his eyebrows.

“What about?” the boy asked.

Sighing, Scorpius dropped the bomb. “The writers did a bit of tweaking with the plot and we only have a week left in Uppingham.”

Albus’ mouth opened in surprise. “Oh.” Scorpius could see him trying to not look disappointed, and it broke his heart.

After a few moments, Scorpius couldn’t take the silence. “I really like you.”

Albus finally broke his stoic silence. “Me too, Scorpius. It’s—”

“Scary?” Scorpius finished for him. Albus nodded. Scorpius reached over and grabbed his hand.

“You could come to London with me for the rest of the summer,” he suggested, intertwining their fingers. “I have a flat there.”

Albus shook his head sadly. “My parents would never let me.”

“After you’re out of school, then,” Scorpius said. He watched Albus’ expression as he said it, relieved to see less surprise than he suspected.

“I—” Albus chuckled; “I’ve actually never been to London.”

Scorpius couldn’t help but laugh in surprise. “You’d love it, it’s beautiful. Uppingham is beautiful too, but London has so much life.”

“Uppingham is the worst,” Albus said.

“It’s charming,” Scorpius argued playfully. He let go of Albus’ hand and rested his own on Albus’ knee. Albus pressed his knee into the touch playfully. Scorpius smiled at him and moved his thumb in small circles.

“I was looking at a few universities in London last year,” Albus commented. “Uni prep, and all that.”

Scorpius tilted his head in interest. “What do you want to go to school for?” He knew Albus didn’t want to work at the ice cream shop for the rest of his life, but he realized he had no idea what Albus wanted to do with his life.

There was a lot about Albus he didn’t know.

“Architecture,” Albus said with a smile. “I’m not the best artist, but I think it’d be really cool to design a building that could exist for people to see.” He looked down to his hands. “I want to do something memorable.”

Scorpius squeezed his knee. “Maybe one day I’ll film a movie in a building you design.”

Albus chuckled and looked up when Padfoot sat up on the floor.

“My dad’s home,” Albus whispered. Scorpius felt dread in his chest, but Albus didn’t look worried. He hopped up from the bed and walked to his bedroom door, Padfoot happily on his heels.

Scorpius felt his heart race as Albus let Padfoot out of his room and said goodnight to his dad. He heard the police officer ask Albus why he was still awake, and Albus’ quiet laughter as he told his father he was watching Netflix. With a promise to his dad of ‘one more episode’, Albus said goodnight and shut his bedroom door.

“Relax,” Albus mouthed as he crossed the room. He climbed onto his bed above Scorpius, crawling until he could kiss Scorpius’ neck. Scorpius lifted his head and laughed shakily. “I can’t believe you climbed through my window,” Albus whispered into his skin.

Scorpius was very okay with the turn of events. He slouched further against the wall, turning his head so Albus would have to kiss him instead of his neck. Scorpius’ hands found their way to Albus’ waist and dragged his fingers along Albus’ stomach as they kissed. Albus chuckled against his mouth.

“I hope you didn’t just come here for a booty call,” he said.

It was Scorpius’ turn to laugh. “Who’s on top of whom right now?”

“Irrelevant,” Albus muttered, grinning. He sat back onto his knees on Scorpius’ lap. Scorpius left his hands on Albus’ waist, fidgeting with the bottom of his shirt. Albus’ fingers touched his. “It’s not an eight-pack.”

Scorpius rolled his eyes. “I don’t have an eight pack, and I already looked in my trailer,” he whispered with a grin. Albus laughed and pulled the shirt over his head. Scorpius felt his smile fade to awe as he looked up Albus’ frame. While it was true that Scorpius had a bit more muscle, Albus was still beautiful. Scorpius ran his thumb along the patch of hair he only briefly saw before.

“You’re amazing,” Scorpius said as he finally tore his eyes away from Albus and looked up to him. Albus smiled and bent down to kiss him, and Scorpius ran his fingers along Albus’ sides as he did. He heard Albus stifle a noise from the back of his throat as Scorpius touched the waistband of his shorts. Albus shifted to one hand so he could start at the buttons of Scorpius’ shirt. He felt Albus push at the fabric, becoming more urgent as they kissed. Scorpius pushed back against Albus’ mouth so he could sit up and rid himself from the offending fabric.

Albus pulled back and shifted so they could both lie down, and Albus dragged his fingers along Scorpius’ side. Through short breaths, Albus whispered, “I don’t—I wasn’t expecting—”

Scorpius kissed him. “We have time,” he whispered.

For the first time that night, Scorpius believed what he said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am SO bad at answering comments, but I just want to say thank you all so much for the love you're showing this story! Also, a big thank you to Jill/dreamgazer220 for the help working through this chapter and the help plotting out some of the details of it!


	10. Episode 10: You Have Me

Albus rolled over in his bed, feeling like it was much too big for just him. The sun was shining through his curtains and he heard birds outside his open window. He wished Scorpius was still lying behind him, pulling him close to his bare chest as the sun came up.

Albus bit his lip tiredly and smiled, unable to hold back his giddy laughter. He was tempted to call in sick to work just so he could lay in bed all day and think about Scorpius. He slid his hand down his stomach and thought about Scorpius’ whispered promises to show him London as they pushed at the waistlines of each others’ clothing.

His alarm started blaring next to him, and he groaned. He knew if he didn’t get out of bed his mum would be pounding at his door yelling at him, and that would interrupt his morning even worse. He sat up and made a naked beeline for the shower to think about Scorpius some more.

Albus felt like guilt and  _ #notavirginanymore  _ was written all over his face as he walked into the kitchen. Sure enough, his mom blinked at him in surprise as he stepped onto the tiled floor. He stared at her, feeling his stomach turn.

“What?” he asked defensively. He thoroughly checked himself for hickeys before he came downstairs.  _ Oh god _ , what if his parents heard him and Scorpius?

“You’re awake all by yourself.” His mother feigned a shocked tone and pretended to wipe away a tear. She looked to his dad. “They grow up so fast.”

Albus rolled his eyes and tried not to faint. He heard his parents and sister laughing as he stalked over to the fridge. He poured himself a cup of juice and stood at the counter to eat an apple.

Lily, who had her laptop at the kitchen table next to her breakfast, started talking. “It’s really weird reading people talking about Scorpius Malfoy’s new boyfriend when I know it’s just my gross brother who never showers.”

“I just took a shower!” Albus argued, feeling his cheeks prickle with color.

“Albus, don’t shout at your sister; Lily, stop provoking your brother,” their dad said, not looking up from his newspaper.

“What are they saying?” Albus asked his sister.

“They think you’re an extra or a crew member and that you’re breaking the balfie shippers’ hearts because you don’t have red hair,” Lily said through a bite of cereal. “They wish you looked more like Danny Zabini.”

Albus raised an eyebrow. “Who?”

Lily rolled her eyes at him like she couldn’t believe Albus actually existed. “The guy who plays Puck, the Slytherin Basil always fights with?”

“The black guy?” Albus asked her.

“Yeah, I don’t know, I think they’re just upset you’re not a ginger.”

Albus tried not to think about Louie Lestrange and everything Scorpius told him. The last thing he needed was Lily blogging about it. 

“Has Scorpius told you anything about season three?” Lily asked him a second later.

Albus smirked at her. “I’m not telling you.”

Lily finally looked up from her computer, wide eyed. “He told you something?”

Albus ignored what his sister was saying and pulled out his phone. He had a Snapchat from Scorpius. Albus put away the juice bottle and while he was hidden from his parents he smiled and opened it. There was a picture of Scorpius with napkins tucked into his shirt collar, presumably at the makeup trailer. He was making a face like he was bored out of his mind. Albus bit his lip to hide his smile.

Albus walked out of the kitchen, waving when his mother yelled, “Five minutes!” after him. He scratched away at some cookie pieces on the collar of his uniform shirt before taking a selfie. He typed  _ hope you’re not too tired _ before sending it off.

When he looked up from his phone, Lily was standing in the doorway.

“Can you ask Scorpius if  _ Pasil _ is going to become canon now that  _ Balfie _ isn’t possible?”

Albus stared at his sister. “I don’t know what any of those words mean, so, no.”

“Is Scorpius your boyfriend?” Lily asked him. Albus’ phone buzzed in his hand, saving him from having to answer. “Is that him right now?” Lily pestered, crossing the room towards him.

“Go away, your computer misses you,” Albus said, pulling his phone out of Lily’s reach.

“Albus!” his mother yelled from the kitchen. Albus stuck his tongue out at his sister and stepped around her.

In the car, Albus opened Scorpius’ text message.

_ I am, but Susie and Lindsey are madly hungover so I’m off the hook. I think my boss is going to murder someone. Susie looks terrible. _

“You know, Lily does have a point,” his mother randomly said.

Albus shut the screen of his phone off and looked to her. “What point?”

She laughed. “We’re all kind of curious if this Scorpius boy is your first boyfriend.”

Groaning, Albus dragged his hand over his face. “Oh my god, mum, not you too.” When he looked over, she was staring at him expectantly. “I don’t know, okay, we’re… figuring it out.”

He didn’t quite have the heart to tell his mum that he only had a week left with Scorpius. Well, six days.

“Okay, okay,” she said, pulling over to the end of Diagon Alley. Equipment and trailers were even starting to get cleaned up, and the public was able to walk down the street again.

With a wave and a promise to call when he was finished with his shift, Albus hopped out of the passenger seat and walked towards his work. They didn’t have the security area set up anymore as the excitement from the start of filming died down, so Albus walked down the cobblestone road towards  _ Fortescue's _ .

There were a few families and groups of teenagers in the ice cream shop when Albus walked in. After punching in he hopped the counter and went right towards the back. Rose was at one of the machines pouring in a large mixing bowl of yellow liquid.

“Banana?” Albus asked her, hopping up on the counter.

“Lemon Tart,” Rose said, not looking up from what she was doing. “I’m going to add in pieces of crust when it starts freezing.”

Next to him sat a container of broken tart crust pieces, so Albus took one and ate it.

“Sounds good,” he said as he chewed.

Rose turned to him and made a face, tugging away the container before Albus could grab more. As she stared at him her face faded from annoyance to confusion.

“Did you sleep with Scorpius?” she asked.

Albus felt the tart piece get caught in his throat. He started coughing and spluttering as the tart crust scratched its way to his stomach.

“What?” he finally managed, voice scratchy.

“I said, did you—”

“I heard you,” Albus interrupted. “Why… how— is it that obvious?”

At that, Rose finally stopped what she was doing. “Oh my freaking god, you did? I was just joking.”

Albus wished he was born to a different family.

Immediately she started bombarding him with questions. “How was it? Did it hurt? Wait, did you—”

“Oh my god, Rose—” Albus said, feeling his cheeks burn. “We… we just”

“Albus, I read fanfiction, you can say it,” she told him, rolling her eyes.

He felt his eyes widen. “People write fanfiction about sex?”

Rose laughed out loud. “Oh, Albus. Sweet, innocent Albus.”

Albus made a face at her and stalked out of the back room, cheeks still hot. He busied himself stocking their candy jars and making waffle cones so they would be ready for the lunch rush to start. He knew their container of them was empty because Rose hated doing it and she was in charge because Bev had a day off.

Rose followed him out when the bell above the door signaled customers. She took over for him in front of the ice cream case, so he took the spot at the register. They filled the family’s orders – tourists, he suspected by the accents and haughty way they spoke to Rose – and cleared out the small queue before Rose walked up next to him. She bumped her hip against his.

“I’m just glad you had a good time. I want details when you’re ready, but I’m happy for you.”

He smiled to her, but felt suddenly guilty. He opened his mouth to try to talk to her, but she beat him to it.

“I talked to her last night,” Rose said quietly. “I guess she was drinking with her ex and her ex tried to hook up with her. Apparently she started sobbing and felt the need to finally apologize at three in the morning.” Rose shrugged. “She wants to talk so we’re meeting up on the beach tonight. You should see if your parents will let you go; I didn’t even see anything on Twitter today about you.”

Albus laughed bitterly. “I’ll ask.”

The film team’s lunch break started, so Albus kept one eye on the door as he rang up random crew members and extras dressed in robes. There weren’t as many as the start of filming as the novelty of having ice cream for lunch wore off, but he switched off with Rose scooping ice cream and filling random iced coffee orders. He wasn’t very good at making hot drinks since he rarely worked mornings, but he could figure out how to pour in random syrups and cold pressed coffee to make the iced ones that were all the rage.

Scorpius and Susie didn’t show for the break, and soon enough the shop had no patrons.

Albus took his break outside on the windowsill of Fortescue's. He had a text from Scorpius waiting for him.

_ Susie invited me to the beach after filming today, apparently she drunk dialed Rose last night and they’re having a chat. Did Rose tell you anything? _

The text was timestamped from only a few minutes prior. Albus typed out a quick reply.

_ She said susies ex offered a shag and susie called her crying cause she felt so bad _

He sat outside and sipped his overly-sugary iced coffee that he accidently made for a woman who wanted sugar free, watching a bit of the filming that was going on. He didn’t see Scorpius or anyone from the show he would recognize, so he sat back against the window and let the sun warm his face.

Scorpius replied at the end of his break.

_ Really? _

Albus typed back:

_ that bad ? _

Scorpius’ reply was fast:

_ She’d kill me if I told you this, but Susie never apologizes for stuff like that. She never gets back together with people she breaks up with. I can’t believe she actually listened to me. _

Another reply came in before Albus could write back.

_ I hope you can come with tonight, I really want to see you. _

Albus smiled and headed back into Fortescue's to finish his shift.

*

Albus was in love with Scorpius. It wasn’t some big shocking revelation; it just came to him as he sat on in the sand with Rose waiting for the two celebrities to show.

He knew what people thought about first love, and he knew that things would be different when summer faded to fall and Scorpius went back to his real life. But for this summer and maybe more, Albus could say that he was in love with Scorpius Malfoy.

“I don’t know what to say to her,” Rose finally spoke.

Albus looked up from where he was drawing in the sand in front of him. “What did she say on the phone?”

“She said Lindsey offered her a shag and she immediately started crying because she was a ‘horrible person’ for doing what she did and she wants to spend her last week in town together,” Rose told him.

“So, you’re going to spend the time with her?” Albus asked.

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I want to, but I don’t want to go through the same thing in a week when Susie decides she never wants to talk again. I wish it was as easy as you and Scorpius. Internet Scandal aside, of course.”

Despite her ribbing, Albus laughed. Having his name plastered all over the internet didn’t turn out to be as exciting as he initially thought. He thought he maybe saw a few people with cameras as he walked towards his dad’s patrol car after work, but they quickly found new things to do as he got into the front seat. Otherwise, his Twitter was, once again, quiet.

A pair of muscly arms wrapped around his shoulders, and he felt a pair of lips press into the back of his neck. He leaned into the touch, closing his eyes and smiling. Scorpius kissed along the skin behind his ear until Albus tilted his head back and kissed him.

“Spiderman kiss, dream fulfilled,” Albus muttered, making Scorpius laugh. He looked up to where Rose was standing up, brushing sand off her skirt. He watched as she smiled awkwardly at the famous girl in front of her. Albus thought about her character on  _ Hogwarts _ , smart and loyal to her friends and girlfriend.

Rose was the first to speak. “Want to walk to the lighthouse? You still haven’t seen it, right?”

Susie smiled and nodded, and the girls walked off through the sand. Scorpius walked around and sat next to him in the sand.

“Hey so,” Scorpius said as soon as the girls were out of hearing distance. “You don’t regret last night, do you?”

Albus shot a surprised look at him. He tried to feign casual. “Do you?”

“No, definitely not. I just… you know, I was thinking maybe I pressured you into it, and—”

Albus bit his lip and chuckled. “I think you think too much.” He leaned over until his head bumped against Scorpius’ shoulder. He wanted to tell Scorpius that he was nothing like Louie, but he kept the thought to himself. He felt Scorpius relax, and Scorpius wrapped his arm over Albus’ shoulder. The beach was quiet; there was an overcast of clouds and a chill that kept most of the tourists away from it.

“Do you think Rose will forgive Susie?” Scorpius asked. If Albus squinted, he could just see the two figures at the end of the pier.

Albus thought for a moment. “I don’t know. Rose loves people so much that sometimes she gets blinded by it. She was really hurt.”

“I know Susie is sorry, but I don’t know… what if she’s right?” Scorpius’ tone was sad, and Albus understood. He shifted so he could wrap his own arm around Scorpius’ waist.

“We’ll figure it out,” Albus promised him. “I don’t want to have this ruin our last… six days together.” He couldn’t help the hesitation in his voice even if he tried.

“Five,” Scorpius said, pointing out to where the sun was just below the cloudy horizon line.

Albus snorted. “Your constant optimism is my favorite thing about you.” He felt Scorpius laugh. “And the eight pack.”

Scorpius laughed louder, and Albus couldn’t help but think about his realization from earlier.

“You know,” Scorpius said, still chuckling. “I still haven’t been in the lake since I’ve been here.”

Albus turned and looked at him, surprised. Scorpius’ free hand was on the hem of his shirt. They exchanged glances; Albus grinned. Scrambling to stand, Albus tugged his shirt over his head and dropped his cell phone on it. He let out a shout of joy as he ran down the beach towards the water, Scorpius laughing on his heels.

As soon as he was deep enough that he couldn’t run, he dove underwater and swam out a bit. When he resurfaced he could see Scorpius walking towards him, smiling. He pushed his hair off of his forehead and grinned, swaying with the low waves that were pushing him forward. As Scorpius neared him, he sunk down so he was up to his chin.

“Can you swim?” Albus asked Scorpius when he was close enough. He stared at the water clinging to the boy’s chest.

Scorpius shrugged, sinking down with him. “I have you to save me, right?”

Albus reached up and pulled Scorpius into a kiss. He felt drips of water from Scorpius’ hair hit his cheek as he pulled Scorpius closer. Thoughts of the previous night had Albus needing to break things off quicker than normal, so he rested his forehead against Scorpius’.

“Yeah, you have me.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, funny story; I told clairevergreen that if she posted a new chapter of her story 'designated mum friend' (which is amazing and has scorbus and cute girls dating cute girls and i love and you should read), that I would post a new chapter of this story. And so she WROTE HER ASS OFF and posted and so you can all thank her for two updates in one week. (freaking ravenclaws, amirite tho)


	11. Episode 11: Bae

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uh, mind the new tags

“So.”

Scorpius looked down to his lap where Albus’ head rested. He smiled when he saw the way the boy’s dark hair stood up from Scorpius running his fingers through it as they watched Netflix. Much to the boy’s dismay and Scorpius’ entertainment, they were sitting in the living room of the Potters’ house, due to Albus’ grounding. Scorpius knew he was lucky he was even allowed to see Albus; he didn’t care that the boy’s mother was bustling around the kitchen as they watched television.

“So,” Scorpius mimicked, glancing away before Albus could look up.

“You have… forty-eight hours left in Uppingham.”

Scorpius felt his expression sour. “That is correct.”

“I think you should have dinner here,” Albus told him.

“Do you,” Scorpius asked drily.  
  
“You’re not filming tonight, right?” Albus asked.

“No. I wrap this location tomorrow afternoon, and then my train leaves the next morning.” He knew Albus knew all of this information, but Scorpius was curious to see where his thoughts were headed.

“Right,” Albus said. “So really, you want to capitalize on every second you can get with your bae before you go, right?”

Scorpius blinked. “I cannot actually believe that you just said—” his words were cut off by Albus’ finger smashing against his lips.

“Mum!” Albus called into the kitchen. “Can Scorpius stay for dinner?”

Albus’ mum appeared in the door a moment later. Scorpius tried to sit up straighter, but Albus made no effort to move from his lap.

“Albus, it would be really helpful if you would ask me these things before I start cooking,” his mum said in an exasperated tone.

“Mrs. Potter, it’s really all right, I was just planning to grab something on my way back to Diagon Alley—”

Ginny’s face softened. “You’re more than welcome to stay for dinner, Scorpius.” She glanced at Albus. “I just wish _my son_ would be as polite as you and communicate these things.” Before Scorpius replied a timer went off and Ginny turned back to the kitchen.

Scorpius poked Albus. “Thanks. Your mum already hates me.”

Albus laughed. “She doesn’t hate you.”

“She totally does,” Scorpius whispered. “I got your name plastered all over the internet.”

Waving his hand in the air dismissively, Albus said, “and I got famous for like five minutes. Like half those people unfollowed me ten minutes later.”

Scorpius felt his resolve weakening; as nervous as he was for officially sitting down with Albus’ family, the desire to spend as much time with Albus was much greater. They watched Netflix for a while longer as the house filled with delicious home cooked smells.

As Albus and Scorpius silently poked at each other for who would have to reach the remote to continue playing their show, Scorpius heard a door open just past the staircase.

“Mum! How long ‘till dinner?” Albus’ sister called from down the hallway.

Albus dug his fingers into Scorpius’ side in his moment of distraction, making him jump and let out a surprised noise just as Lily walked into the room.

Scorpius was no stranger to the moment Lily realized he was there; her guard was obviously down as she stepped into the room with her hair in a messy ponytail and glasses perched at the edge of her nose. He watched with a combination of sympathy and amusement as she recognized him. A terrified noise was managed to escape before the girl ran off, Albus’ laughter trailing after her.

“That will never get old,” Albus said between breathless spots of laughter, settling his head back into Scorpius’ lap. Scorpius rolled his eyes and grabbed the remote. He rested his hand on Albus’ arm as they watched another episode, rubbing his thumb along the edge of Albus’ sleeve. He looked down Albus’ arm to the way his fingers rested against the fabric of the couch, down to the small curve of his waist and the way his knees crossed lazily over each other. He wanted to remember everything about this moment, everything about Albus.

With his opposite hand, Albus reached up and wrapped their fingers together. As if Albus could tell what he was thinking, he pressed his lips against Scorpius’ knuckles.

It was just into the next episode when the front door of Albus’ house opened. Where he stayed in Scorpius’ lap for the chat with his mother, Albus shot up to a sitting position when his dad walked through the door. Padfoot barreled down the staircase from Albus’ room and jumped up so his paws were on the uniformed chest. Scorpius watched as Albus’ dad scratched behind the dog’s ears affectionately.

“Hey, dad,” Albus greeted as the police officer entered the living room.

Scorpius stood as the man – a very accurate version of Albus thirty years into the future – approached him.

“We haven’t been introduced,” the man said, “Harry Potter.”

Scorpius took his hand and shook it firmly. “It’s nice to meet you, officially, Mr. Potter. I’m—”

“My son’s new famous boyfriend?”

“ _Dad_ ,” Albus whined, “can you not?”

At the same time as Albus started bickering with his dad, the front door of the Potter residence opened again. This time a boy with a flop of red hair fell through the door with a bag of sports equipment. Early twenties, he looked impossibly tanned and impossibly freckled. After Padfoot repeated his routine with the newcomer, Scorpius realized he was staring and turned back to try to shield himself behind Albus.

“Aha! Are we taking the piss out of Albus?” the red-head asked.

Albus frowned. “James, I thought you had practice late.” He made no effort to keep the displeasure of seeing – what Scorpius connected – his older brother out of his tone.

“Lightning,” James replied with a shrug. Scorpius looked outside to see rain drops collecting on the window. James kicked off a pair of cleats towards the direction of a pile of shoes and crossed the living room.

Scorpius couldn’t make it behind Albus quick enough; James walked right up to him.

“Is this the guy?” he asked Albus. “Lily’s phone wallpaper?”

Scorpius felt like all of the blood in his body was rushing to his cheeks. He was probably going to faint in front of Albus’ dad and Albus’ ginger brother.

“ _James_!” Lily cried from down the hallway.

In all his years of filming action scenes, drama scenes, humor scenes, Scorpius had never experienced chaos quite like the Potter family. He didn’t even have time to look at Albus before they were being herded into the kitchen with the call of dinner being ready.

Albus pulled Scorpius into a chair next to him, opposite the other two Potter siblings. Without preamble, the two across the table began reaching for the home cooked meal in front of him. Everything smelled amazing and tasted just as good; Scorpius felt his stomach take interest despite his nerves.

“Lily, how is that story you were writing coming along?”

“ _Mum!_ ” Lily hissed, cheeks turning a deep red. She had a fork in one hand and her phone in the other, rapidly texting. Scorpius really hoped she wasn’t posting his picture on the internet.

Albus’ mum rolled her eyes and turned to her other son. “How’s the team shaping up?”

“All right,” James said through a mouthful. “Our keeper’s finally back in this week.”

“My mum used to play football professionally,” Albus told Scorpius. “She was on the England National team for six years.”

Scorpius smiled at the woman at the end of the table. “That’s incredible. Oh, and uh, thank you for inviting me to dinner,” Scorpius finally managed to say. “It’s really great to have a home cooked meal.” He felt some of his earlier nerves dissolve as Albus’ mum smiled at him.

“Of course, Scorpius,” she replied. “We were very happy to hear that you were understanding and respective of our rules with Albus. We only want what’s best for him and his safety.”

Next to him, Albus tilted his head down and took a large, obvious bite of his food.

“I’m – I feel the same way,” Scorpius assured her, feeling like an awful guest and person.

“Oi, so in that movie your mum did with the cruise ship, how did she stay underwater for so long?” James suddenly asked.

“Um, I think they do multiple takes and they use oxygen masks between them,” Scorpius said quietly, trying to remember the title of the movie James was referring to.

“Is Hogwarts really trying to push Basil and Nixie together even though slash ship fans made their ratings so high?” Lily asked, temporarily looking away from her phone.

“Uh—”

“No offense,” she added, looking to her brother.

“Come on guys,” Albus said before Scorpius could answer. “He doesn’t want to talk about movie stuff.” Scorpius gave him a grateful smile. “Mum, is it okay if Scorpius and I keep watching our show in my room?”

“Albus, you know the rules,” his mum said.

“Yeah, but Dad’s going to be watching his show in a little bit, and we only have a few episodes left, and Scorpius is leaving in two days,” Albus told her.

Ginny let out a long sigh, exchanging a look with her husband. After a beat she said, “door stays open.” From the corner of his eye Scorpius saw Albus grin and start to stand. Scorpius hurried to finish his meal as politely as he could and helped Albus clear their plates. As Albus took his hand to drag him out of the room, she called, “I’m serious, open door, Albus Severus!”

Scorpius took the stairs two at a time to keep up with Albus and followed the boy directly into his room. Once inside, Albus pushed his door so it was only open a sliver. Albus shot him a devilish grin.

“That was the most terrifying half an hour of my life,” Scorpius said as Albus walked closer. He tilted his head to the side when Albus brought his lips to Scorpius’ neck.

“You did fine,” Albus muttered.

“Thanks, Albus Severus.”

“Nooo,” Albus whined softly into his shoulder, resting his forehead against it. Scorpius felt him shake with silent laughter.

“Mine’s worse,” Scorpius promised. “Question though.”

“Mmm,” Albus asked, moving back to kiss Scorpius’ jawline.

“Was inviting me to dinner all part of your elaborate plan to get me up to your room?”

The feel of Albus’ grin against his neck was answer enough.

“You’re ridiculous,” Scorpius muttered, finally bringing his lips to meet Albus’.

Albus responded enthusiastically, quickly walking Scorpius backwards and towards his bed.

“Are you even going to turn on Netflix?” Scorpius asked as Albus pulled away to flip on his lamp. Albus snorted and grabbed his laptop from under his bed. As Scorpius situated himself on Albus’ bed with the boy’s pillow behind his back, he watched as Albus loaded up the show they were watching before dinner. He place his laptop on the bedside table and crossed his room to shut his main light off. Scorpius looked to the wall where Albus’ lamp casted a long, slender shadow of the boy walking towards him.  

Where last time they were tentative and questioning, this time Albus didn’t hesitate to climb on top of Scorpius and plant a knee on either side of him. Albus bent down and continued what he’d started on Scorpius’ neck; biting kisses followed by drags of teeth and tongue that had Scorpius’ head spinning. Scorpius couldn’t bring himself to worry about the damage Albus was probably causing; he’d have to sit in the makeup chair either way. Albus shifted with him as he slid further down.

The first press of Albus’ hips downward had Scorpius letting out a cut off gasp. He knew he had to be quiet even as he felt Albus grin against his jawline.

“Albus—” Scorpius caught Albus’ mouth against his to keep himself from calling out as Albus ground down against him again. The strain against his trousers combined with the tantalizing roll of Albus’ hips had Scorpius seeing stars much sooner than he wanted to.

He wanted the moment to last.

In the back of his mind he knew he couldn’t relieve the strain against his zipper, so he nudged Albus until the boy took the spot on the bed next to him. Scorpius slid his thigh between Albus’ leg as he draped his hand over Albus’ hip. Hooking two fingers through Albus’ belt loops, he pulled Albus against him. Albus matched him as he twisted his fingers in Scorpius’ shirt.

It was dizzying and slow and frantic and heated all at the same time, and Scorpius knew if he didn’t pull back he would have to suffer a very uncomfortable ride back to Diagon Alley. He slowed the kiss down in favor of savoring the moment and let go of Albus’ belt loop.

“Nooo,” Albus whispered, voice hoarse.

“Your door is open,” Scorpius reminded him.

“Everyone’s downstairs,” Albus muttered, “I can hear the telly. They all watch _EastEnders_ obsessively. They make a whole night of it.”

Scorpius narrowed his eyes at Albus, fighting back a smirk as an idea formed in his head. “Okay. Can you stay quiet?”

“What?”

Scorpius put his finger to Albus lips, and when Albus nodded, he and slid his hand down the boy’s side and to his trouser button. As Albus stared, Scorpius undid the button and moved so he was on his hands and knees over Albus.

“Oh my god,” Albus muttered, scrambling to sit up on his elbows. His mouth hung open in a heady, desperate daze.

Scorpius reached back up and put a finger to Albus’ lips again, making the boy let out a breathy laugh. He used his other hand to tug at the waistband of Albus’ boxers. With one final soft smile at the boy below him, Scorpius looked down and licked as stripe up Albus’ straining cock. He heard Albus muffle a whimper against his own arm as Scorpius slowly got used to the taste of Albus on his tongue. As Scorpius tried to take more of Albus in his mouth, he could feel Albus’ thighs shake.  
  
So he wouldn’t accidently move his hips, Scorpius pinned Albus’ hips down as he slid his lips down as far as he could manage. He wished they were back in London so he could hear every full moan that Albus buried into his arm, every hitch of breath punctuated by his own name rolling off Albus’ tongue. He felt Albus’ free hand touch to his cheek and slide into his hair, not pulling but simply grounding himself.

Scorpius was straining against his trousers again, so he let go of one side of Albus’ hip to reach down and undo his button. Sliding his own zipper down, Scorpius pulled out his own cock just enough to start thrusting into his hand, matching the movement of his mouth.

“Sco – _oh my god_ – Scorpius, I’m gonna—”

As he felt Albus’ thighs tremble, Scorpius took as much of Albus in his mouth as he could. Albus’ fingers tightened in his hair as Scorpius felt bitter heat on his tongue. He moved his tongue and lips in languid pulls to drag Albus through his high.  
  
He felt Albus softening as he pulled his lips off with a wet _pop_. Moving his hand faster, Scorpius dropped his head onto Albus’ shaking thigh and dragged his teeth along the sensitive skin until his own orgasm tumbled and crashed through him all the way to his toes.

Scorpius only allowed himself one minute to drop onto albus’ thigh and bask in his afterglow before he sat up. If he stayed any longer he’d certainly fall asleep to the feeling of Albus’ fingers carding through his hair and the slowly steadying pulse running through his thigh. His head spun as he stood from the bed to wash his hands in Albus’ bathroom. He avoided looking at his own reddened lips and blown pupils as he wetted a washcloth and brought it back to Albus’ room.

Albus was watching him through heavy lidded eyes, and smiled softly as they made eye contact. Scorpius cleaned Albus up before tucking him back into his boxers. He dropped the washcloth on the floor and crawled back into Albus’ bed. He felt too much like a teenager that they hadn’t even made it through one episode on Netflix.

They exchanged soft, sleepy kisses for a few moments. Scorpius was scared to speak, knowing that anything he said would be one step closer to goodbye. He fought back the wetness in his eyes that dared to form; he didn’t want to spend their last hours alone together in tears.

“It’s just a year,” Albus whispered. “Not even. Eleven months. Think of how awesome our Snapchat streak will be by then.”

Scorpius laughed against his lips. “You’d better send me a selfie every day.” His voice was hoarse and it made his cheeks burn.

Albus and Scorpius were exchanging laughter and kisses when there was a soft knock on the door, followed by the creak of the hinges. Scorpius had a minor panicking thought that the room probably smelled like _them_ , but Albus’ father’s expression didn’t show it.

“It’s time, Albus,” Harry said softly, but stern.

Scorpius answered for Albus. “I’ll call a ride.” He felt like his life and his fame were a world apart from where he was now, instead of just a phone call away.

Harry left them to it, so Albus sat up on the bed next to him, lacing their fingers together as Scorpius gave the driver Albus’ address.

After he hung up, Albus spoke. “I could meet you after you’re done filming tomorrow, and I could probably see if my parents will let me go to the train station in Leicester.”

Scorpius smiled to him. “That would be great.”

“And, hey so, I love you.”

Scorpius felt his heart thud as he lost whatever he was going to say.

“I feel like I should have said this, I dunno, forever ago, but like, I love you, Scorpius,” he watched as a rare patch of color prickled to Albus’ cheeks. “A lot.”

“I like, love you too,” Scorpius said, grinning when Albus rolled his eyes. Scorpius laughed and added, “Jesus, Albus, of course I love you too.”

“I’m gonna chase your train out of the station on Sunday,” Albus told him, wetness in his eyes matching Scorpius’.

And he did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Again, locations are real but everything else is made up. I don't actually know anything about Eastenders) 
> 
> Hey so, I've been trying to post some random stuff on my tumblr (bansheehp.tumblr.com), but i'm also part of an awesome little internet community that is just getting started. If you're looking to find some really good quality fanfiction, talk about stories you love, are looking to write some yourself, or just or looking for an awesome, supportive and kind community, are into Harry Potter or other fandoms, check out hpfanfictalk.com - everyone is so nice and helpful and it's just an awesome community to be a part of. Thanks for reading!


	12. Hiatus: 525,600

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For reference in this chapter, Scorpius is in italics and Albus is bolded.

_I just got back to my flat. The train was horrible and I slept through the trolley snacks. I miss you already.  
_**only… 11 months to uni  
**_:(  
  
__London is so loud compared to Uppingham. I thought sleeping in my own bed would be enough but it’s 2 and I’m wide awake.  
_**I wish I could be there  
**_In London or in my bed?  
_**Is YES an acceptable answer ?  
**_Yes it is :)  
  
_ *  
  
**Year 11.  
**_You’re starting today, right?  
_**I’m in homeroom right now, what are you doing  
**_Voiceovers for episodes when the camera doesn’t pick up the lines well enough. I just went over an Uppingham scene :(  
_**100 miles and a whole world away  
**_Did you just google that? Shouldn’t you be doing school stuff?  
__It’s actually 105.  
_**:P**  
  
**Mark wisle is in my calc class  
**_Who? You take calculus?  
_**the guy who gave my name to the paparazzi in my famous days  
**_I wish you wouldn’t refer to the moment your name spread around the internet and I thought you were going to leave me as “my famous days”  
_**maths look good on uni apps  
**_Yeah but that’s ridiculously smart maths  
_**more importantly, mark is a wanker. He just asked the teacher to borrow a pencil on day one  
**_You’re in class right now?  
_**I’m glaring at him for both of us  
**_My hero.  
  
_

_How was school?  
_**I have homework, who gives homework on day one ??  
**_If you finish early enough we could skype ;)  
__(Winking face on purpose.)  
_**OMG  
****are we really gonna do skype sex  
****is that a thing that people actually do  
****Scorpius ?  
**_;)_  
  
*  
  
**I want to quit the shop  
**_What happened?  
_**Teenagers  
From the college in leicester  
****Our coffee drinks are super cheap so it brings in a lot of teenagers and shit and they sit and make a mess and are generally The Worst  
****Why do you have to open sugar packets and dump them on the table, why is that a thing people do  
****And then my boss yelled at me like I was supposed to do something about when I was in back making stupid pumpkin spice ice cream so more teenagers would have reasons to come in  
**_That’s shitty :(  
_**Sorry, you don’t need to hear about my work  
**_Albus  
__Please don’t ever think that again... I want you to text me about everything.  
_**:)  
****I love you  
****Also, I don’t hate pumpkin spice, it’s amazing.  
**_:P I love you too_  
  
*****  
  
**is it weird watching yourself on the telly?  
**_Oh god, Rose dragged you with?  
_**of course she did, lily’s here too, we’re eating ice cream talking about cute boys  
****Lily is obsessed with puck, she told me not to tell you  
**_Lol I could get Danny to tweet her? He’s here  
_**i think that would legit give her a heart attack  
**_We always have a viewing party for the season premiere.  
Lindsey and Susie are a thing again now, I guess.  
_**there’s a new girl at work that Rose is in love with  
****  
ooh it’s starting. Aw, look at my boyfriend all cute and magical wearing glasses  
**_That scene took twelve takes.  
It’s so weird that you’re watching this, I think I liked you better when you didn’t watch the show :P  
_**rude  
****this makes me miss you a lot more than I thought it would…  
**_Ten months to uni?  
_**:)**  
  
*  
  
_Louie texted me today.  
_**oh?  
**_He asked me to meet him for coffee.  
_**thats… something  
**_I don’t want to go, but I kind of feel like I should.  
__would you be upset if I did?  
_**just… can you break up with me before twitter tells me  
** (1) Missed Call – Scorpius  
_Please answer…  
__I’m not breaking up with you, jesus Albus, I couldn’t…  
__I love you  
__I won’t go.  
_**you should  
**_Here, read this.  
_ (Multimedia Message)  
**…he wants to come out  
**_He’s lying. I just saw an article last week about him and that judge on that talent show.  
__I told him no. Can you talk? This would be a lot easier.  
_**yeah, I’m at dinner but I’ll call you**  
  
*  
  
_Happy thanksgiving!  
_**lol. having fun across the pond then?  
**_It’s mostly just filming and sleeping and then filming again.  
_**at least you get to see your parents, and you’re going to be in a movie!  
**_It’s a very low budget movie.  
_ (Multimedia Message)  
**…does your dad have a ponytail  
**_It’s for an upcoming role. Mum’s been taking the mickey for days.  
__They want to meet you.  
_**I have paid actual pounds to see your mum and dad at the theatre and they want to meet me???  
**_Of course they do, they actually will not stop asking for pictures since I changed my Twitter bio.  
_**You changed your twitter bio?  
** “ **Basil on Hogwarts, Scorpius in real life. My heart is in Uppingham.” Ohmygod I’m gonna die.  
**_Now they’re asking me why I’m rolling my eyes._  
  
*  
  
**its snowing  
**_I wish I could be there.  
_**I wish you could too :(  
**_Eight months, and then I’m never going another day without seeing you.  
_**:)**  
  
*  
  
_Happy Christmas!!  
_**whyyy what time is it  
**_You won’t even wake up early on Christmas?  
_**not since I was like 12  
**_You had your mall tantrum when you were twelve?  
_**ha. because I won’t get that enough from fam today  
**_You should send me a pic from your grandparents’ house, it sounds amazing.  
And eat so much treacle fudge for me. I will do the pushups for you because #acting.  
_**it’s chaotic, but I will. :)  
  
**_And hey so, I love you  
_**oh my god, since when did Christmas become make fun of Albus day???  
**_hahaha  
_**I like, love you too. I’ll call you later?  
**_:)_  
  
*  
  
**Susie texted rose today…  
**_:( News to me, obviously.  
_**Are you two okay ?  
**_I’m sure you’ve seen, it’s all over social media.  
_**I’ve been at work :/  
**_You know London is crazy for new years, I guess Susie and Lindsey had plans to go out and be seen. Day of, Susie was feeling ill so Lindsey went out without her.  
__I’m sure you can guess the rest.  
  
_**Sorry, shop got a rush and I’m here alone cause winter  
****so whys Susie mad at you? I looked on twitter, that really sucks for her about Lindsey  
**_I don’t think she’s mad, I think she’s embarrassed. Lindsey’s dating record is worse than hers.  
_**Rose is dating that girl Karlie from the shop :/  
**_Susie knows. I texted her for coffee tomorrow, I’ll try to talk to her.  
__Skype tonight?  
_**Definitely :D ugh, the coffee calls me. Ttyl**  
  
*  
  
**So  
**_I never know what to expect when I open my phone to one of these.  
_**I got a letter today  
****from bartlett school of architecture in london  
**_and??  
_**aka, first choice dream school  
**_Oh my god Albus I’m working or I’d already be calling, what did it say???  
_**so, I was wondering,  
****come autumn,  
**_ALBUS  
_**If you’d like to show a budding architect around London?  
**_I just cheered so much I knocked over a pile of crisp bags at the craft table. I’m apologizing profusely to the intern cleaning them up but OMG I KNEW YOU COULD DO IT!  
_**:D  
**_AH, I’ve got to go back, I’ll text you later, I love you, congratulations!  
  
What did your parents say?  
_**Gushingly supportive, as always. And, so,  
**_Oh bloody hell.  
_**lmao  
****we’re planning a trip around the end of spring to visit the campus. I was wondering… texting and snapchat and skype is one thing but… are you still… wanting this?  
**_I can’t… Albus you’re ridiculous… I’m calling you.  
  
_ *  
  
**I’m expecting some explicit pictures later as my st. valentines gift, seeing as I can’t be with you  
**_I am not sending you explicit pictures, I don’t care what holiday it is  
_**Boo you’re no fun  
**_Get used to it :P_  
  
*  
  
(multimedia message)  
_Happy birthday, love ;)  
_**omg  
****best. birthday. ever.**  
  
*  
  
_ugh  
_**AGREED. why for you?  
**_Contract stuff for season four.  
_**?  
**_My agent is encouraging me to sign a two series deal with Hogwarts and I just… don’t know. I don’t feel like I can even do season four, much less if it gets renewed for five. Three didn’t put up as great of numbers as they wanted so now they’re scrambling to figure out why.  
__They know losing Alfie was a part of it, but they thought they’d redeem themselves with Nixie and Aura and the hints at Basil and Puck.  
_**That was an awesome finale tho, lily almost cried  
**_tell me about your ugh.  
_**Prom posters are going up :/  
**_Ah. When is it?  
_**may. Same time you’re in America for your premiere :(  
**_Have your parents set a date for the Bartlett tour?  
_**Beginning of june, I’ll let you know dates asap**

 

 **For the record, I’m not sad you can’t come to my prom, I know you’re probably beating yourself up right now, but I just want to finish sixth form and start uni  
**_It’s just really making me not want to sign this contract.  
__Or go back for the premiere.  
_**Why does it have to be a two season contract?  
**_It’s a better deal, money wise, according to my agent. I’m a main character, they (the writers) need to cover themselves to make sure I’m not just going to quit mid-arc.  
__As much as that sounds wonderful sometimes._  
  
*  
  
**Do you think things are going to be different in a month?  
**_As opposed to?  
_**Last summer, now, either  
**_I think you’re worrying too much.  
_**What if I hop off that train next month and you realize you don’t love me anymore?  
**_Albus, that isn’t going to happen. Where is this coming from?  
_**I just… miss you… a lot  
****And idk, sometimes I just get in my head and I can’t believe that this is real and that you’re really going to be waiting at the train station for me  
**_Well, yesterday actually, I put in a filming request so I won’t have any scenes on the days your family is in London. So, in… twenty eight days, I’ll be with you the entire time.  
__I will make a sign for King’s Cross, if you’d like?  
_**I bet my parents would love that, Lily would probably put it on her tumblr  
**_Speaking of…  
__Do you think your parents would let you stay at my place those nights?  
_**I could ask, but probably not :(  
**_:(_ **  
  
This is so dumb  
**_They said no? :(_ **  
I just sat in a “discussion” for an hour where they explained exactly why they didn’t trust me enough to let me stay with you  
**_:( What did they say? I’m sorry :(  
_**They think we’re going to go out to clubs and that I’m not focusing on my future  
****When i told them we just wanted to spend time together, they think we wouldn’t… “be safe”  
**_I wish there was something I could do to help…  
__You know that I want you to follow your dreams more than anything, right?  
_**Of course i do  
****I just wish they got that  
****It’s one night in eleven months and i’m not going to get a minute alone with you  
****This is ridiculous, this day is shit.  
**_Would it make them feel any better if they talked to me?  
_**Idk  
**_I mean, I really only met them once. Maybe it would put their mind at ease?  
_**You really are amazing, you know that?  
****We’ll try :) love you**  
  
*****  
  
(Multimedia Message)  
**Prom pics, as promised :)  
**_Oh my god I was not prepared for what you’d look like in a tux.  
__Rose looks great too, is that Karlie?  
_**Haha, I’ll take that as a compliment. Yeah  
** (Multimedia Message)  
_It’s a compliment.  
_**OMG ROSE IS RIGHT NEXT TO ME IN THE CAR  
****AREN’T YOU GOING TO A MOVIE PREMIERE IN LIKE TEN MINUTES  
**_That’s so you remember me when all the cute boys at your school ask you to dance in a little bit.  
_**haha, because the only two other out boys at my school are 1. dating each other and 2. just lining up, aren’t they  
**_They haven’t seen you in a tux.  
  
_**sooo bored, why do you have to be doing movie stuff and not texting me, prom is The Worst  
**_lol, love you, go have fun!  
  
_**I feel like I just wasted three hours of my life.  
**_It couldn’t have been that bad_.  
**rose and Karlie ditched me at the first slow song  
****with their shoes and purses to hold  
**_aww  
_**you can laugh  
**_I am.  
_**:P jerk, are you home from the premiere?  
**_Almost  
_**Netflix date?  
**_:D_  
  
*  
  
**Hey, can you skype rn?  
**_Lol, I thought we already had plans to skype when I got home tomorrow?  
_**My parents said they would talk to you about London and bartlett  
**_I’ll be home in forty minutes._

 

 **Well, that was dumb.  
**_At least they’re giving us some time.  
_**they’re picking me up after the palace and dinner like I have a bloody curfew again**  
_We’ll just have to make the time worthwhile :)_  
  
*  
  
**Rose got a promotion to shop manager at Fortescue’s  
**_That’s great!  
_**She’s putting me on coffee station every shift, she says I should apply for a barista job in London  
****I never thought rose would have a good idea  
**_I have an espresso machine I never use, when you visit I expect fancy coffees  
_**I will make you the fanciest coffee after I return the favor for the last night we had together ;)  
I’ve… been thinking about it a lot, I really want to.  
****Like, really :)  
****Are you there?  
**_I think you broke my brain._  
  
*  
  
**ONE WEEK!  
****I wish my parents weren’t STILL being dumb about this  
**_I’m so happy to see you I don’t even care for how long.  
_**It’s just one night, I don’t get why they don’t trust me  
**_It’s probably me more than you they don’t trust :/  
_**You at your flat?  
**_Susie’s. She says hi.  
_**Hi susie  
**_She says she can get you a job when you move here  
__She’s friends with the manager at the starbucks down the road from our flats_ _  
  
_ * _  
  
__You probably haven’t even left Leicester Station yet, and I’m already ready to leave my flat for King’s Cross.  
I have a video call with the Hogwarts producers in a bit, and then I’m yours for the day!  
_**Just boarded :D I can’t believe it’s finally here  
  
****OMG LILY FORGOT HER HEADPHONES HAHAHA  
****she’s trying to get me to give her mine  
**_Lol  
_**TRAIN’S MOVING I’M ON MY WAY OMG!  
**_One hour to uni? :D  
_**One hour to us !!!  
**_I love you so much, I can’t wait to see you. Unfortunately I didn’t make sign (no need to fuel the paparazzi fire), so you just get my face.  
_**I’ve missed your face way too much  
**_You don’t have to miss it for much longer. I’ll see you soon I love you!  
_**Love you :)**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big thank you to Lily/ImaRavenclaw for beta reading this chapter. The chapter title is, of course, from Rent.


	13. Episode 13: London

Albus couldn’t keep the smile off of his face even if he tried. He knew this trip to London was for him to see Bartlett, which he definitely was excited about, but he couldn’t get over the thought that he’d be seeing Scorpius in less than two hours.  
  
The year had been _hard._ As much as Scorpius convinced him with texts, Snapchats and the occasional Tweet, he still spent nights wondering if Scorpius would really wait for a whole year for some random boy from Uppingham. It wasn’t easy, especially with tabloids that gave more information about what your boyfriend was doing than what you heard from your actual boyfriend.  
  
At least they got their first fight out of the way.  
  
His phone buzzed in his hand and skipped his music, making him smile. He looked down to what he assumed would be another text from Scorpius, and frowned when he realized the text was from his sister.  
  
 _If you give me your headphones I’ll make sure they let you stay with Scorpius.  
  
_ It was the topic of every post-dinner discussion Albus managed to make it to over the past few weeks; why he should be able to spend the night at Scorpius’ flat when they visited London for Bartlett. As much as he, and Scorpius via Skype on one occasion, told them they would just sit around his flat and spend (much needed) time together, Albus’ parents didn’t budge.  
  
Albus gave his sister an unconvinced glance and typed a reply.  
  
 _Prove it  
  
_ He turned down the volume of his music when he saw Lily open the text.  
  
“Mum,” Lily said, voice sweeter than Albus had heard in years. “I don’t want to share a hostel bed with Albus.”  
  
“It’s one night, Lily,” their mother replied, looking at Lily over her book.  
  
"Can’t he just stay at Scorpius’ place? I already have to go to see this school with him tomorrow, and dad and I want actually enjoy Buckingham Palace this afternoon. Albus doesn’t care about the palace, he’s just going to ignore it for Scorpius anyway. It’s not like he can get pregnant.”  
  
Albus had to cover his laughter with a cough so he wouldn’t get caught eavesdropping.  
  
“Lily, that’s obviously not what our concern is,” their father said.  
  
“Aren’t you taking him to see this school to eventually let him live on his own like a grownup anyway?” Lily asked. “Don’t you think he’s just going to stay at Scorpius’ then?”  
  
“Lily, why are you suddenly on your brother’s side about this?” their mum asked, looking between the two of them. Albus stared at his phone screen, scrolling through nothing and pretending to look occupied.  
  
Lily’s voice got quieter. “I’m not on his side, I just… I don’t know, I feel bad for him and Scorpius. You should see the sad things Scorpius vague Tweets.”  
  
Their mother looked from their dad to Albus, and back to Lily again. Albus tapped his finger against the side of his phone, jumping slightly when his mum suddenly waved her hand in front of him. He tugged one of his earbuds out and looked to her, feigning innocence.  
  
“Albus, we’ve been talking,” she started. “With your father and sister’s sightseeing plans, we think it’d be alright if you spent tonight at Scorpius’ flat—”  
  
“Oh my god, seriously?” He didn’t have to fake his surprise this time.  
  
“—with limitations.” She added quickly, stern.  
  
Albus nodded enthusiastically. “yeah, mum, of course.”  
  
“You need to text us when you get to Scorpius’ place after we separate for the day, and you’ll have to be back to the hostel tomorrow at eight for the campus tour. You’re not allowed to go anywhere else but to Scorpius’ flat. Scorpius is welcome to come along tomorrow, but we’re expecting you to spend the day with the family before our train back.”  
  
“Absolutely, oh my god, thank you, Mum and Dad.” He sat up and hugged her, dropping his headphones in Lily’s lap as he did. He knew he surprised her with the gesture so she didn’t notice his sister’s triumphant grin.  
  
It was a slow ride listening to his parents’ boring conversation, but Albus buzzed with excitement at the thought of staying the night at Scorpius’ flat. He thought about all the things they talked about doing together when they reunited; he felt giddy, excited and nervous, and even if he tried he couldn’t keep the smile off of his face. The thought of seeing Scorpius for an entire, uninterrupted day had his heart beating faster.  
  
His phone buzzed with a text from Scorpius.  
  
 _On my way to King’s Cross!  
  
_ Albus let his fingers fly across the keyboard on his phone to tell Scorpius the news. Predictably, Scorpius was just as ecstatic in his reply.  
  
Scrolling through his phone to keep himself occupied, he hardly noticed they were pulling into London until his parents pointed out the train’s window. He watched as the beautiful buildings and historic landscape flashed past their windows. He tried to recall as many of the names of the historic buildings from his _History of British Architecture_ class as he could until the train slowed down and pulled into the station.  
  
As the train slowed to a stop into King’s Cross station, Albus started tapping his fingers on his thigh. As many times as he and Scorpius spoke, texted, and Snapped throughout the year, it was still a whole eleven months since they’d seen each other. A whole year where Albus grew five centimeters, tried and failed to grow a moustache, and spent night after night worrying the blond boy wouldn’t be waiting for him today. As much as he tried, he couldn’t let go of the doubt telling him Scorpius wouldn’t show.  
  
A hand rested over his and he stopped tapping his fingers. Albus looked from the short stubby nails up to his father.  
  
“Alright, Albus?”  
  
Albus glanced over to where his mother and sister were taking their luggage out of the train compartment.  
  
“What if he doesn’t show?” Albus felt like he was a child again, confiding in his dad in quiet moments where his siblings weren’t watching. He would take it to his grave, but sometimes he missed the ease of talking to his father from his childhood.  
  
“Then you’ll go to Bartlett become an architect,” his dad said.  
  
Albus frowned. “That’s already in the plans, Dad, I’m talking about Scorpius... He’s got everything going for him, and I’m… just me.”  
  
“And whether Scorpius shows up today or not, you’re still going to do great things with your life, Albus. You’re a very bright, talented young man and you’re going to do great things.” Albus looked down to his lap and laughed, and when he looked up, his dad was looking out the window.  
  
“Though, I don’t think you have anything to worry about,” his dad added, grinning.  
  
Following his line of sight, Albus looked out the window and felt his heart flip in his stomach. In between two young, grinning girls wearing _Hogwarts_ shirts, across from a mother holding a camera, Scorpius posed to take a picture with fans.  
  
Albus ignored his heart racing in his chest, ignored his mother’s demand to help carry their bags, and ran for the door to the train. Stepping onto the platform, Albus looked to where Scorpius was signing the back of another girl’s shirt. Biting his lip, Albus walked over to them.  
  
“Can I get a picture too?”  
  
He watched as Scorpius’ expression faded from a fake smile to that of surprise.  
  
Albus’ heart raced. “Maybe an autograph? I’m your biggest fan.”  
  
Scorpius’ smile was infectious. He said nothing as he handed the Sharpie back to the girl, not looking away from Albus. The family left as Scorpius ignored them.  
  
“You’re here,” Scorpius whispered. He looked Albus up and down, as if he was trying to decide if Albus was real. “You’re taller.”  
  
“Five centimeters,” Albus said quietly, chuckling. He wanted this to be their moment; he didn’t want to share it with anyone on the platform.  
  
“I want to kiss you,” Scorpius said. Albus didn’t want to blink and miss a second of Scorpius standing in front of him. He was dying to reach out and touch Scorpius, to kiss him, but he knew that King’s Cross was crawling with people with cameras, and he and Scorpius already had enough Twitter scandals. They always joked about breaking their plans to keep things cool until getting to Scorpius’ flat, but Albus wanted to respect Scorpius’ wishes to stay out of the tabloids.  
  
Albus settled for a quick squeeze of Scorpius’ hand, before dropping his own at his side. Scorpius broke their eye contact and looked right behind Albus, making him turn.  
  
“Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Potter,” Scorpius said, standing slightly straighter. “Hey, Lily.”  
  
“Hello Scorpius,” Albus’ father said, reaching out to shake his hand. “It’s been a while.”  
  
Scorpius gave him a polite chuckle; “It sure has.” He reached to Albus’ mother and shook her hand, and accepted Lily’s hug after she offered.  
  
“Dad, we’re going to miss the trolley to Buckingham Palace,” Lily said, holding up her phone to show him the time. Albus looked to his sister and hid his smirk when she winked at him.  
  
“Right, right,” Harry said, looking to Albus. “Messages, when?”  
  
Albus rolled his eyes. “Once we get to Scorpius’ and when we leave for the campus tour.”  
  
“And the campus tour is at…”  
  
“Eight in the morning at Bartlett,” Albus finished. “Dad, I know, and we’ll be safe.” Albus took his bag from his dad that he’d hastily left on the train at the sight of Scorpius. “Have fun at Buckingham Palace.”  
  
To get things moving, Albus let his parents both hug him, before turning back to Scorpius. Once his parents were out of earshot, Scorpius turned and stopped in front of him.  
  
“They’re really letting you stay over?” Scorpius asked.  
  
Albus grinned. “Apparently, my sister _ships_ us.”  
  
Even if Scorpius couldn’t fight his smile, he still rolled his eyes at Albus. “I guess having Danny Tweet her really did pay off.”  
  
“I still don’t think my eardrum recovered from that,” Albus told him.  
  
As they walked towards the exit of King’s Cross, Scorpius dug through his jumper pockets and pulled out a hat and a pair of expensive looking sunglasses. Tugging them on, he navigated towards the cabs until he found one that wasn’t on a route. Albus was nervous, but Scorpius seemed calm and in control, so he followed him into the vehicle.  
  
Scorpius rattled off an address, and settled back into the seat with Albus.  
  
“I... also have news,” Scorpius said as the car pulled out of King’s Cross Station.  
  
Albus turned to him and frowned when he saw that Scorpius looked suddenly nervous. “Is it about that meeting you had today?”  
  
Scorpius nodded. “It was a video call with my agent and all of the producers. I told you about the two-year contract, right?” Albus nodded. “Well, it was a renegotiation today, and with the script for season four getting a giant re-write, they’ve had to fire three of the directors.” Albus watched as Scorpius stopped fighting his smile. “They’re letting me direct six episodes in the new season.”  
  
Albus felt his eyes widen. “That’s… that’s what you’ve always wanted.”  
  
Scorpius nodded. “I know.”  
  
“That’s amazing!” Albus said. He wanted to kiss Scorpius more than ever. Instead, he reached over and squeezed his hand, intertwining their fingers together. “I’m so, so happy for you.”  
  
Albus didn’t let go of Scorpius’ hand for the rest of the ride.  
  
In order to prove to his parents how responsible he was, Albus texted his father the second they got out of the cab in front of Scorpius’ building. His father replied back with a quick, _be safe, just got to the palace_ , and Albus put his phone back in his pocket.  
  
“This building looks expensive,” Albus said, squinting up towards the top.  
  
“It’s London,” Scorpius said with a shrug, turning away from paying the cab driver. Scorpius led the way in through the keyed entrance and smiled at the doorman. Albus followed him through the incredible entrance room and towards the lifts.  
  
Albus fidgeted with the strap of his bag as they rode up in the lift. They shared the ride with a pair of elderly looking women whom Scorpius answered their questions in a polite manner. Albus knew Scorpius’ flat was on the very top floor, so he watched the numbers light all the way up.  
  
“They’re nice,” Albus said, grinning to Scorpius when the women got off the lift.  
  
Scorpius chuckled. “They’re huge fans of my dad’s movies,” he told Albus as the door shut. “He just about gave them both a heart attack when he visited a few months ago.” With only a few floors to go, Scorpius finally grabbed Albus’ hand again.  
  
“I can’t believe you’re here,” Scorpius whispered, resting his chin on Albus’ shoulder. He leaned his head against Albus’, so Albus did the same. The lift came to a stop, so Scorpius dragged him into the corridor and to his flat.  
  
As nervous as he was, Albus was equally excited to see inside Scorpius’ flat. Scorpius gave him a virtual tour via Snapchat and he’d seen various parts through Skype, but it was different to see the magnificent open room as a whole lit up with sunlight.  
  
However, Albus only got a few seconds to look before Scorpius had him against the closed door and had his mouth on his.  
  
He’d have to explore later.  
  
Albus let his bag fall to the floor with a heavy thud as he responded to Scorpius with equal enthusiasm. He kissed Scorpius with everything in him; he pushed away every bit of self-doubt, every sleepless night wondering if this would ever happen again, every fear he had so he could focus on making sure Scorpius knew just how much he wanted him. He felt Scorpius’ mouth leave his as he peppered hot presses of his mouth down Albus’ jawline and to his neck.  
  
“Missed you,” Albus muttered as he rung his fingers into Scorpius’ shirt. “I can’t believe we… you’re—” Albus let his sentence trail off as Scorpius’ fingers danced along his waistline. He missed the feeling of Scorpius’ touch more than words could describe, and he didn’t want to think about anything but the way Scorpius’ mouth felt on his.   
  
Albus would have been fine spending the rest of the night kissing Scorpius against his front door, so he sighed sadly when Scorpius pulled back and rested their foreheads together, and grinned when Scorpius rolled his eyes.  
  
“You’re here,” the boy whispered.  
  
“I am,” Albus replied.  
  
Scorpius pressed one more kiss to Albus’ lips before pulling back and standing up. He gestured towards his flat and said, “I guess you’ve seen most of it through Skype, but—”  
  
Albus chuckled and took a few steps into Scorpius place, looking around. It was so much more open than the video made it out to be. The flat had high ceilings, hardwood floors and an open loft bedroom looking down to the rest of the place, compete with a spiral staircase. On the walls Scorpius had official looking awards and pictures from _Hogwarts_.  
  
“This is a freaking architectural dream,” Albus said as he walked into the living space below the loft. Scorpius had a giant flat screen television mounted to the wall, with a comfortable-as-hell looking couch in front of it. Albus walked over to the couch.  
  
“I recognize this from our Netflix and Chill nights,” Albus said with a cheeky grin. His heart felt happy as he got to watch color fill Scorpius’ cheeks for the first time in months. He felt a sudden urge to see how much of a blush he could give Scorpius.  
  
“You’re ridiculous,” Scorpius muttered fondly. He sat on the couch, so Albus copied him. Scorpius leaned forward and kissed him, and Albus suspected he did it just for the fact that he could. Kissing Scorpius would be something Albus would never tire of.  
  
“What do you want to do?” Scorpius asked after they pulled apart.  
  
Albus chuckled. “We’ve talked about this day so many times and what we were going to do, but now all I can think is how much I just want to keep kissing you.”  
  
Scorpius gave him a small, sweet smile. “So kiss me.”  
  
Albus did. Albus kissed Scorpius with everything he had and more. He kissed him until the sun went down and Scorpius knew that Albus would be there forever. He kissed Scorpius until their breathing turned quick and desperate and heady, and dragged them both over the edge right on the couch. Until Scorpius’ stomach groaned loudly enough that they broke apart just enough to order delivery, and even then, they snuck kisses and glances over boxes of fried rice. Scorpius didn’t let Albus bother with the leftovers as he dragged him up the spiral staircase, dropping articles of clothing as they went. Albus kissed Scorpius until drowning felt like floating, until rushed and fervent presses tuned to languid and lazy touches, until Albus fought to keep his eyes open and Scorpius curled up against his side to avoid the sunrise.  
  
After too few hours of sleep, Albus and Scorpius dragged themselves and their coffees – made by Albus – to Bartlett School of Architecture, where Albus greeted his parents with a yawn. He snuck kisses to Scorpius as they toured the campus, as they learned about classes, and fought tears when his parents mentioned they’d need to be getting back to King’s Cross.  
  
“We made it eleven months,” Scorpius said, wiping Albus’ cheek. Albus heard the train blow a giant whistle. “We can do three more.”  
  
“Come September, I’m never letting you go,” Albus told Scorpius.  
  
And he didn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> epilogue is next!


End file.
